Under fluttering flags and in a fever of national pride, legions of lock-stepped Vietnamese patriots marched through Hanoi on Tuesday in celebrations marking 80 years since the declaration of independence.

Around 40,000 troops and civilians began parading just after dawn, feting the date when communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh declared a "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" free from French rule in 1945.

Tanks, drones and missile batteries are poised to file through the streets as helicopters and planes streak over the heads of avid spectators, thousands who have camped out overnight.

Pham Thanh Van, a 78-year-old veteran, wore his military uniform pinned with medals earned fighting American troops as he prepared to watch from a front row seat at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum.

"This will be m

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