This year marks half a century since the end of the Vietnam War. In My Lai, where US forces massacred over 500 villagers, a ceremony was held Sunday in the victims' honor.



Survivors, local residents and US veterans gathered at the site of the mass killing in Quang Ngai Province and observed a moment of silence.



On March 16, 1968, a US Army platoon mowed down unarmed civilians, including women and children. What came to be seen as the worst war crime perpetrated by America in Vietnam fueled a global movement against the war.



Vo Cao Loi was 16 when he lost his mother and relatives in the incident. He said he will never forget what happened to him, and he still feels pain. But he went on to say that "relations between Vietnam and the US have opened a new chapter" and "we and the Americans are friends now."



The war left 850,000 soldiers and 2 million civilians dead.