As Army Plans Parade for Its 250th Anniversary, Protesters Prepare, Too

Yomiuri Shimbun

17-05-2025

Matt McClain/The Washington Post
Service members rehearse for Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration. More than 6,000 soldiers are set to take part in the June 14 parade
As the U.S. Army plans a parade in Washington with thousands of soldiers, hundreds of vehicles and dozens of aircraft to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding on June 14, protesters are making preparations of their own.
'The National Protest Against Trump and the War Machine plans to mobilize thousands from across the country to protest the military parade,' according a permit application filed with the National Park Service last week. The Army's celebration coincides with the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump, who has long mused about showcasing the might of America's armed forces on the streets of the capital.
'A military parade celebrating Trump and the Army is an outrageous insult to the American people,' reads the permit application. 'What really makes America great is its working people – U.S.-born and immigrant alike – not billionaires and the military that enforces their domination of the rest of the world.'
Andy Koch, a Minneapolis-based organizer with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said he wanted to help coordinate a protest as soon as he heard about the Army's plans.
'It's just kind of over the top,' said Koch, 35. He and other organizers have requested permission to host the rally in Meridian Hill Park in Northwest Washington, he said. 'Then our intention would be to march within sight and sound of the military parade.'
Details for the parade itself have yet to be finalized, though the Army anticipates 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft and 6,600 soldiers taking part.
'The procession will tell the story of the history of the Army, beginning with the Revolutionary War and concluding with the modern-day Army,' spokesperson Heather Hagan said in a statement to The Washington Post.
An application submitted earlier this spring by America250.org called for the parade to begin at the Pentagon's north parking lot at 6 p.m., cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge into D.C. and continue on Constitution Avenue NW, ending at 15th Street. The Army's Golden Knights will parachute down to the Ellipse, a flyover will zoom overhead and fireworks will decorate the night sky.
Set to begin at 8 p.m., a 'concert will consist of 5-7 musical acts' with 'well known performers' who are 'likely from the country music world,' according to the application.
The Army is working with local law enforcement, the National Park Service, District Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Park Police and D.C. Water, which will assess the roads and bridges, Hagan said.
The Army began planning a 250th anniversary celebration event in Washington in early 2024, an Army official with knowledge of the event previously told The Post. The celebration will mark the anniversary of the Continental Congress's vote to officially create the Continental Army to defend the colonies from the British.
But the overlap of the Army's festivities with Trump's birthday has prompted ire, especially at a time when his overhaul of the federal government includes slashing the Department of Veterans Affairs and curtailing remote work allowances upon which federal workers whose spouses serve in the military had relied.
The upcoming show of pageantry has stirred mixed feelings in Koch's own family. He has family members who are veterans, he said. Some applaud Trump. Others are angry.
The last time troops paraded in D.C. was in 1991, when 800,000 people jammed the nation's capital to honor Gulf War service members and watch a seven-block-long display of military equipment.
According to the permit application, the protest will include an estimated 100 organizers, 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 to 20,000 participants.
'President Trump is eroding the people's democratic rights, our union rights, vilifying immigrants, gutting social services, and much more as part of his right-wing, racist agenda,' reads the application.