France is celebrating Bastille Day with nationwide festivities commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, a pivotal moment in the French Revolution.
In Paris, the celebration features 7,000 participants marching along the Champs-Elysees, including troops and armoured vehicles, followed by fighter jet flyovers and a spectacular drone light show at the Eiffel Tower.
The holiday showcases revolutionary spirit and military prowess. The parade beneath the Arc de Triomphe began with President Emmanuel Macron reviewing troops and relighting the eternal flame. Each uniform carries symbolic elements, particularly the distinctive French Foreign Legion contingent with their bearded troops wearing leather aprons and carrying axes.
In his Bastille Day speech, Macron highlighted growing global threats and announced increased military spending.
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto was the guest of honour this year as 200 Indonesian drummers joined the parade. The visit is expected to yield agreements on French military equipment purchases, including Rafale jets. Finnish, Belgian, and Luxembourg troops also participated, reflecting the event’s increasingly international character.
Special guests included Fousseynou Samba Cisse, a French man who received a personal invitation from Macron after rescuing two babies from a burning apartment. The holiday period also featured prestigious awards, with this year’s Legion of Honour recipients including Gisele Pelicot, who became a symbol for sexual violence victims during a high-profile trial.
Beyond Paris, the holiday brings family gatherings, firefighters’ balls, and rural festivals throughout France.
SEOUL — The third and final season of Netflix’s “Squid Game” broke viewership records on the streaming platform following its release on June 27, marking a fitting close for what has arguably been the most successful South Korean TV series in history.
Although reviews have been mixed, Season 3 recorded more than 60 million views in the first three days and topped leaderboards in all 93 countries, making it Netflix’s biggest launch to date.
“Squid Game” has been transformative for South Korea, with much of the domestic reaction focused not on plot but on the prestige it has brought to the country. In Seoul, fans celebrated with a parade to commemorate the show’s end, shutting down major roads to make way for a marching band and parade floats of characters from the show.
In one section of the procession, a phalanx of the show’s masked guards, dressed in their trademark pink uniforms, carried neon-lit versions of the coffins that appear on the show to carry away the losers of the survival game. They were joined by actors playing the contestants, who lurched along wearing expressions of exaggerated horror, as though the cruel stakes of the game had just been revealed to them.
At the fan event that capped off the evening, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk thanked the show’s viewers and shared the bittersweetness of it all being over.
“I gave my everything to this project, so the thought of it all ending does make me a bit sad,” he said. “But at the same time, I lived with such a heavy weight on my shoulders for so long that it feels freeing to put that all down.”
Despite the overnight global fame “Squid Game” brought him (it’s Netflix’s most-watched series of all time), Hwang has spoken extensively about the physical and mental toil of creating the show.
Visitors take photos near a model of the doll named “Younghee” that’s featured in Netflix’s series “Squid Game,” displayed at the Olympic park in Seoul in October 2021.
(Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)
He unsuccessfully shopped the show around for a decade until Netflix picked up the first season in 2019, paying the director just “enough to put food on the table” — while claiming all of the show’s intellectual property rights. During production for the first season, which was released in 2021, Hwang lost several teeth from stress.
A gateway into Korean content for many around the world, “Squid Game” show served to spotlight previously lesser-known aspects of South Korean culture, bringing inventions like dalgona coffee — made with a traditional Korean candy that was featured in the show — to places such as Los Angeles and New York.
The show also cleared a path for the global success of other South Korean series, accelerating a golden age of “Hallyu” (the Korean wave) that has boosted tourism and exports of food and cosmetics, as well as international interest in learning Korean.
But alongside its worldly successes, the show also provoked conversations about socioeconomic inequality in South Korean society, such as the prevalence of debt, which looms in the backstories of several characters.
A few years ago, President Lee Jae-myung, a longtime proponent of debt relief, said, “‘Squid Game’ reveals the grim realities of our society. A playground in which participants stake their lives in order to pay off their debt is more than competition — it is an arena in which you are fighting to survive.”
In 2022, the show made history as the first non-English-language TV series and the first Korean series to win a Screen Actors Guild Award, taking home three in total. It also won six Emmy Awards. That same year, the city of L.A. designated Sept. 17 — the series’ release date — as “Squid Game Day.“
Although Hwang has said in media interviews that he is done with the “Squid Game” franchise, the Season 3 finale — which features Cate Blanchett in a cameo as a recruiter for the games that are the show’s namesake — has revived rumors that filmmaker David Fincher may pick it up for an English-language spinoff in the future.
While saying he had initially written a more conventional happy ending, Hwang has described “Squid Game’s” final season as a sobering last stroke to its unsparing portrait of cutthroat capitalism.
“I wanted to focus in Season 3 on how in this world, where incessant greed is always fueled, it’s like a jungle — the strong eating the weak, where people climb higher by stepping on other people’s heads,” he told The Times’ Michael Ordoña last month.
“Coming into Season 3, because the economic system has failed us, politics have failed us, it seems like we have no hope,” he added. “What hope do we have as a human race when we can no longer control our own greed? I wanted to explore that. And in particular, I wanted to [pose] that question to myself.”
This Fourth of July, patriotism for many Americans feels a bit slippery.
As citizens of our near 250-year-old republic reminisce about the Independence Days of their childhoods — adorned with American flag motifs and smelling of charred hot dogs — some, particularly in 2025, are wrestling with thoughts about what it means to love one’s country.
Such dialogue has exploded as protesters over the last month have publicly condemned ongoing immigration enforcement raids. In L.A., several communities fearing the consequences of those raids are canceling their Independence Day events in an effort to protect vulnerable residents.
Organizers of the Gloria Molina Grand Park Summer Block Party in downtown L.A. posted on Instagram that they postponed the annual event “out of an abundance of caution and in light of ongoing events across L.A. county.”
Although celebrating American independence may look different this year, L.A. still has a spirited slate of parades, concerts, boat rides and firework shows where you can show your patriotism — whatever that means to you.
Here is a list of 52 places and events in L.A. County to ring in the holiday. (Events start Wednesday and continue through Sunday, but be sure to watch for any new cancellations.)
Leo Frank, the superintendent of a pencil factory in Georgia, was accused of murdering a young employee, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. His 1913 trial led to his conviction despite shoddy evidence and the manipulations of an ambitious prosecuting attorney, who shamelessly preyed on the prejudices of the jury.
After a series of failed appeals, Frank’s sentence was commuted by the governor, but he was kidnapped and lynched by a mob enraged that his death sentence wasn’t being imposed. The story garnered national attention and threw a spotlight on the fault lines of our criminal justice system.
This dark chapter in American history might not seem suitable for musical treatment. Docudrama would be the safer way to go, given the gravity of the material. But playwright Alfred Uhry and composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown had a vision of what they could uniquely bring to the retelling of Frank’s story.
Olivia Goosman, from left, Jack Roden and the national touring company of “Parade.”
(Joan Marcus)
Their 1998 musical was a critical hit but a difficult sell. More admired than beloved, the show has extended an open challenge to theater artists drawn to the sophisticated majesty of Brown’s Tony-winning score but daunted by the expansive scope of Uhry’s Tony-winning book.
Director Michael Arden has answered the call in his Tony-winning revival, which has arrived at the Ahmanson Theatre in sharp form. The production, which launched at New York City Center before transferring to Broadway, proved that a succès d’estime could also be an emotionally stirring hit.
“Parade” covers a lot of cultural, historical, and political ground. The trial, prefaced by a Civil War snapshot that sets the action in the proper context, takes up much of the first act. But the musical also tells the story of a marriage that grows in depth as external reality becomes more treacherous.
It’s a lot to sort through, but Arden, working hand in hand with scenic designer Dane Laffrey, has conceptualized the staging in a neo-Brechtian fashion that allows the historical background to be seamlessly transmitted. Sven Ortel‘s projections smoothly integrate the necessary information, allowing the focus to be on the human figures caught in the snares of American bigotry and barbarism.
Danielle Lee Greaves, left, and Talia Suskauer in the national tour of “Parade.” Suskauer plays Lucille, Leo’s wife.
(Joan Marcus)
The 2007 Donmar Warehouse revival, directed by Rob Ashford, came to the Mark Taper Forum in 2009 with the promise that it had finally figured out the musical. The production was scaled down, but the full potency of “Parade” wasn’t released. An earnest layer of “importance” clouded the audience’s emotional connection to the characters, even if the Taper was a more hospitable space for this dramatic musical than the Ahmanson.
Arden’s production, at once intimate and epic, comes through beautifully nonetheless on the larger stage. “Parade,” which delves into antisemitism, systemic bias in our judicial system and the power of a wily demagogue to stoke atavistic hatred for self-gain, has a disconcerting timeliness. But the production — momentous in its subject matter, human in its theatrical style — lets the contemporary parallels speak for themselves.
Ben Platt, who played Leo, and Micaela Diamond, who played Leo’s wife, Lucille, made this Broadway revival sing in the most personally textured terms. For the tour, these roles are taken over by Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer. Both are excellent, if less radiantly idiosyncratic. The modesty of their portrayals, however, subtly draws us in.
Chris Shyer, left, and Alison Ewing play Governor Slaton and his wife, two of the more noble figures in the show.
(Joan Marcus)
Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities. A numbers man more than a people person, he’s a fish out of water in Atlanta, as he spells out in the song “How Can I Call This Home?” Platt played up the comedy of the quintessential Jewish outsider in a land of Confederate memorials and drawling manners. Chernin, more reserved in his manner, seethes with futile terror.
The withholding nature of Chernin’s Leo poses some theatrical risks but goes a long way toward explaining how the character’s otherness could be turned against him in such a malignant way. His Leo makes little effort to fit in, and he’s resented all the more for his lofty detachment.
It takes some time for Suskauer’s Lucille to come into her own, both as a wife and a theatrical character. It isn’t until the second half that, confronting the imminent death of her husband, she asserts herself and rises in stature in both Leo’s eyes and audience’s. But a glimmer of this potential comes out in the first act when Lucille sings with plaintive conviction “You Don’t Know This Man,” one of the standout numbers in a score distinguished less by individual tunes than by the ingenious deployment of an array of musical styles (from military beats to folk ballads and from hymns to jazz) to tell the story from different points of view.
Max Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities.
(Joan Marcus)
“This Is Not Over Yet” raises hope that Leo and Lucille will find a way to overcome the injustice that has engulfed them. History can’t be revised, but where there’s a song there’s always a chance in the theater. Reality, however, painfully darkens in the poignant duet “All the Wasted Time,” which Lucille and Leo sing from his prison cell — a seized moment of marital bliss from a husband and wife who, as the last hour approaches, have finally become equal partners.
Ramone Nelson, who plays Jim Conley, a Black worker at the factory who is suborned to testify against Leo, delivers the rousing “Blues: Feel The Rain Fall,” a chain gang number that electrifies the house despite the defiance of a man who, having known little justice, has no interest in defending it. Conley has been sought out by Governor Slaton (a gently authoritative Chris Shyer), who has reopened the investigation at Lucille’s urging only to uncover contradictions and inconsistencies in the case. He’s one of the more noble figures, however reluctant, married to a woman (a vivid Alison Ewing) who won’t let him betray his integrity, even if it’s too little, too late.
Hugh Dorsey (Andrew Samonsky), the prosecuting attorney preoccupied with his future, has no regrets after railroading Leo in a politicized trial that will cost him his life. Dorsey is one of the chief villains of the musical, but Samonsky resists melodrama to find a credible psychological throughline for a man who has staked his career on the ends justifying the means.
Lucille (Talia Suskauer, left) and Leo (Max Chernin) sing a poignant duet from his prison cell.
(Joan Marcus)
Britt Craig (Michael Tacconi), a down-on-his-luck reporter who takes delight in demonizing Leo in the press, dances on his desk when he’s landed another slanderous scoop. But even he’s more pathetic than hateful. One sign of the production’s Brechtian nature is the way the structural forces at work in society are revealed to be more culpable than any individual character. The press, like the government and the judiciary, is part of a system that’s poisoned from within.
The harking back to the Civil War isn’t in vain. “Parade” understands that America’s original sin — slavery and the economic apparatus that sanctioned the dehumanization of groups deemed as “other” — can’t be divorced from Leo’s story.
The musical never loses sight of poor Mary Phagan (Olivia Goosman), a flighty underage girl who didn’t deserve to be savagely killed at work. It’s exceedingly unlikely that Leo had anything to do with her murder, but the show doesn’t efface her tragedy, even as it reckons with the gravity of Leo’s.
When Chernin’s Leo raises his voice in Jewish prayer before he is hanged, the memory of a man whose life was wantonly destroyed is momentarily restored. His lynching can’t be undone, but the dignity of his name can be redeemed and our collective sins can be called to account in a gripping musical that hasn’t so much been revived as reborn.
‘Parade’
Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 North Grand Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 12
A massive military parade in Washington DC to mark 250 years since the founding of the US Army coincided with Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. At the same time, protesters in thousands of cities rallied with the message that Americans want ‘No Kings’.
The grand military parade that United States President Donald Trump had been wanting for years barrelled down Washington, DC’s Constitution Avenue, with tanks, troops and a 21-gun salute, the spectacle played out against a counterpoint of protests around the country by those who decried the Republican leader as a “dictator” and “would-be king”.
Trump, also celebrating his 79th birthday, sat on a special viewing stand south of the White House to watch the display of US military might, which began early on Saturday and moved swiftly as light rain fell and clouds shrouded the Washington Monument.
The procession, with more than 6,000 soldiers and 128 tanks, was one Trump tried to hold in his first term after seeing such an event in Paris in 2017, but the plan never came together until the parade was added to an event recognising the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
As armoured vehicles rolled down the street in front of the president, millions of people packed into streets, parks and plazas across the US as part of the so-called “No Kings” protests, marching through city centres and small towns, blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights.
Authorities across the US urged calm and promised no tolerance for violence, while some governors mobilised the National Guard ahead of the demonstrations.
Police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted a week ago, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Officers in Portland city also fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse a crowd that protested in front of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building well into Saturday evening.
Huge, boisterous crowds marched, danced, drummed and chanted shoulder-to-shoulder in New York City, Denver, Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles, some behind “No Kings” banners. Atlanta’s 5,000-capacity event quickly reached its limit, with thousands more gathered outside barriers to hear speakers in front of the state Capitol. Officials in Seattle estimated that more than 70,000 people attended the city’s largest rally in the city centre, the Seattle Times reported.
The demonstrations came on the heels of protests over the federal ICE raids which began last week, and Trump’s order for the US National Guard and Marines to be deployed to Los Angeles, where protesters blocked a motorway and set cars on fire.
“Today, across red states and blue, rural towns and major cities, Americans stood in peaceful unity and made it clear: we don’t do kings,” the No Kings Coalition said in a statement on Saturday.
Washington, DC – It was the 250th birthday of the United States Army, and Trump’s 79th.
Tanks and other armoured military vehicles rumbled down the streets of Washington, DC, on Saturday, in what Trump had teased as an “unforgettable” event and critics had called a pricey tribute to the “egoist-in-chief”.
Speaking after the hour-long procession, which cut through a balmy evening dotted with raindrops, Trump framed the spectacle as a long time coming.
“Every other country celebrates their victories. It’s about time America did, too,” he told the crowd, which sprawled sparsely across the National Mall.
“That’s what we’re doing tonight,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance, who introduced the president at the end of the parade, was the only official to acknowledge the dual birthdays.
“June 14th is, of course, the birthday of the army. It is, of course, the birthday of the president of the United States,” he said. “Happy birthday, Mr President.”
For critics, the overlapping dates sent a disconcerting message.
Away from the celebrations, among about 100 protesters at Logan Circle in Washington, DC, Terry Mahoney, a 55-year-old Marine veteran, described the parade as “dictator behaviour”.
“If you take everything else he’s done, stomping on the US Constitution, this parade may just be window dressing,” he told Al Jazeera.
Soldiers march during a military parade to commemorate the US Army’s 250th Birthday in Washington, DC [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
“But it’s the worst kind of window dressing,” said Mahoney, who was among the tens of thousands of protests who took to the streets nationally to oppose Trump’s leadership on Saturday. “So I wanted to make sure that my voice was represented today.”
But blocks away, near the entrance to the heavily fortified parade route, Taras Voronyy, who travelled from South Carolina, was less concerned about the blurred lines of the parade than the soldiers it was honouring.
“It’s a chance to celebrate the military, and also, Trump will be here,” he told Al Jazeera.
“I was actually a little confused if it was supposed to be for the Army’s 250th anniversary or for Trump’s birthday,” he said. “So I guess it’s a twofer.”
A birthday celebration
Trump had sought a massive military parade ever since attending a Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017, but faced pushback from defence officials during his first term.
This time around, he sent 28 Abrams tanks, a horde of armoured vehicles, cavalry, military planes and helicopters, both modern and antique, to the US capital, in a show of military hardware without comparison since 1991, when the US marked the end of the Gulf War.
Spectators gathered along Constitution Avenue – a thoroughfare that connects the White House to the US Capitol – for a pageant that stretched from the Army’s 1775 birth, through World War II, the Vietnam War, and the so-called “war on terror”.
Trump’s arrival prompted cheers, and a handful of jeers, from the crowd, which was dotted with red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats. Attendance appeared to be less than the military’s prediction of about 200,000 people.
For Freddie Delacruz, a 63-year-old US Army veteran who travelled from North Carolina for the parade, Trump’s birthday and the Army celebration were distinct phenomena.
“It’s a coincidence,” he said. “I got married on June 6, which is the anniversary of D-day [the landing of allied forces on the beaches of Normandy, France].”
“So these things happen,” he said. “But we’re here to support the army. I spent 32 years in the army – I want to see the tanks, the planes, the helicopters flying around.”
A person holds up a ‘No Kings’ sign in protest against US President Donald Trump’s policies and federal immigration sweeps, during the US Army’s 250th birthday festival in Washington, DC, US, June 14, 2025 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
Delacruz also did not see much significance in Trump’s deployment earlier this week of the US National Guard to California to respond to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles and other cities.
Local officials and rights advocates have said the deployment, which was soon followed by Trump sending Marines to protect federal property and personnel, represented a major escalation and overreach of presidential power.
A judge on Thursday sided with a lawsuit filed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, ruling that Trump’s deployment without the governor’s approval was unlawful. However, an appeals court paused the ruling just hours later, allowing the deployment to temporarily continue.
Delacruz acknowledged that Trump has “got a lot of power… I mean, he’s got the Department of Defense, he’s got the Department of Department of State and now, all the Cabinet members are supporting him 100 percent”.
“But he’s still just the president, and he can’t control Congress,” he added. “This is what the people voted for.”
Freddie Delacruz attends the US Army parade in Washington, DC [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]
Aaron M, a 57-year-old Army veteran from Miami, Florida, also said he did not see an issue with how Trump has used federal forces in local law enforcement.
Trump’s decision was the first time since 1965 that a president had activated the National Guard without a governor’s consent. Both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have indicated that the approach could be replicated across the country.
In recent days, Trump has also floated invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which would allow US troops to take part in domestic law enforcement, in what critics call a step towards martial law, but has not yet done so.
“If governors can’t get their states under control, then Trump should send [the National Guard] in,” said Aaron, who declined to give his last name.
“Look, I was born in Nicaragua. I came here when I was 12,” Aaron added.
“I know what a dictator is. This is not a dictator,” he said, motioning to the grandstand from where Trump watched the parade.
Armoured vehicles take part in a military parade to commemorate the US Army’s 250th birthday in Washington, DC [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
‘Protesting is patriotic’
For Anahi Rivas-Rodriguez, a 24-year-old from McAllen, Texas, the military pageantry underscored a more troubling turn, which she said included Trump’s hardline immigration policies melding with the country’s military might.
“I have a lot of people in my life who are scared. We do not belong in a fear in America,” said Rivas-Rodriguez, who joined a group of protesters marching in front of the White House.
“I do not stand by an America that tears families apart and targets people because they look brown and they look Mexican,” she said, her eyes welling up, “because they look like me”.
Trump earlier this week described the protesters as “people who hate the country”, adding that those who came out on Saturday would be “met with very big force”.
Rivas-Rodriguez bristled.
“Protesting is patriotic, and I am here for my country because I care about America,” she said. “Maybe I’m a little intimidated [by Trump], but I am not scared because I am still here.”
Anahi Rivas-Rodriguez attends a protest in Washington, DC [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]
About 60 arrests were made in a protest at the US Capitol late on Friday, but no major incidents were reported in the US capital on Saturday, with many groups choosing to hold protests elsewhere.
The organisers of the national “No Kings” protests held no official event in DC, despite hosting demonstrations in about 2,000 cities across the country.
In a statement, the group said they did so to avoid “allowing this birthday parade to be the center of gravity”.
Still, Roland Roebuck, a 77-year-old Vietnam War veteran from Puerto Rico, said he wanted to attend the parade in protest to send a message.
“Trump has been allergic to military service and deeply disrespectful of the military,” he said, pointing to Trump’s medical exemption from serving in Vietnam due to “bone spurs”, in what critics have said amounted to draft dodging.
Roebuck said the parade – with a price tag of between $25m and $45m – rings tone deaf at a time when Trump has been rolling back federal services, including those that affect veterans.
He also accused Trump of “erasing” the contributions of Black soldiers like himself through his administration’s anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) campaign at the Pentagon.
“Many of the people that are here are very confused with respect to what this parade represents,” Roebuck said.
“This represents a farce.”
President Donald Trump speaks during a celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday at the National Mall in Washington, DC [Doug Mills/Reuters]
June 14 (UPI) — Rain may dampen President Donald Trump‘s plans Saturday night to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday with thousands of troops, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft.
The event also coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday and Flag Day.
A flood watch was in effect for the entire region starting at 2 p.m. and is expected to last until 11 p.m. Highs will be well into the 80s and it will be humid during daytime festivities on the National Mall, WRC-TV reported, while forecasts show showers and thunderstorms starting around 3 to 4 p.m.
Guest entry for the military parade began at 2 p.m.
The one-hour parade, which is expected to draw several hundred thousand people, is scheduled to start moving down Constitution Avenue at 6:30 p.m. near the Lincoln Memorial and then proceed past the White House.
The parade, which saw people assemble along the mile-long route early Saturday morning, will end alongside the National Mall, near the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Washington Monument.
The parade was originally planned to be smaller, but had been set to start outside the Pentagon and go 2.2 miles.
Trump posted Saturday morning on Truth Social: “OUR GREAT MILITARY PARADE IS ON, RAIN OR SHINE. REMEMBER, A RAINY DAY PARADE BRINGS GOOD LUCK. I’LL SEE YOU ALL IN D.C.”
Trump is scheduled to speak during the parade.
“For two and a half centuries, the men and women of America’s Army have dominated our enemies and protected our freedom at home,” Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social in early June. “This parade salutes our soldiers’ remarkable strength and unbeatable spirit. You won’t want to miss it. Just don’t miss this one. It’s going to be good.”
The parade will be followed by the Army Golden Knights’ parachute demonstration and a concert at the Ellipse. A fireworks show will occur at 9:45 p.m., the U.S. Army said.
Earlier in the day, a birthday wreath was laid at Arlington National Cemetery and there was a fitness event at the National Mall. The Birthday Festival there will include opportunities to meet with Medal of Honor recipients, astronauts and soldiers.
All of the activities are free and there is tight security.
Matt McCool, the U.S. Secret Service agent in charge of the Washington field office, said “thousands of agents, officers and specialists from across the country” are deployed. People attending the parade or a related festival will be required to go through checkpoints with magnetometers.
The big show will be the military equipment during the parade, officials have said, which includes 140,000-pound Abrams tanks, as well as 6,600 soldiers wearing uniforms representing every U.S. conflict dating back to the Revolutionary War and aircraft flying overhead
About 1,800 Soldiers from III Armored Corps in Fort Cavazos will participate.
“The Army’s 250th birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesperson for the III Armored Corps, said earlier this week as a train carrying tanks left Fort Cavazos, Texas.
“This is a chance to see our soldiers, our leaders and the world-class force on full display in our nation’s capital. We look forward to being a part of history,” he said.
On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to establish the Continental Army, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.
D.C. officials have expressed concern about potential road damage from the vehicles, including 60-ton tanks. While the Army has installed thick steel plates at key turns, the straightaway on Constitution Avenue remains unprotected.
Road closures and security measures will make it difficult to drive around the area, and Mayor Muriel Bowser said potential damage could cost millions but the Army has pledged to cover the costs.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also clearing the airspace in the area, preventing all arrivals and departures at Reagan National Airport “during the peak of the celebration,” the agency said. The stoppage is expected affect about 116 flights, a senior government official told NBC News.
The last major military parade, the National Victory Celebration, was on June 8, 1991, to celebrate the end of the Gulf War, though Trump has noted that other countries regularly celebrate the end of World War II.
“We won the war, and we’re the only country that didn’t celebrate it, and we’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday,” he said.
Trump said he came up with the idea after watching the French Bastille Day military parade in France in 2017.
Pentagon personnel at the time convinced him not to move forward with the plan and, instead, in 2019, he celebrated Independence Day with a speech at the Lincoln Memorial with military aircraft flyovers and Bradley tanks stationed near the Lincoln Memorial.
“Humans are drawn to pageantry,” Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, told NBC News.
“It’s usually about the personnel. Now we know that this president has political issues all around the world, and wanting to show off the might. And if he views it, as in his first term, ‘his generals,’ and, if he views it as ‘his military,’ then you tie it to your personal special day of your birthday- – that’s what’s different.”
On Friday night, U.S. Capitol Police arrested 60 people for unlawful demonstration, the agency said.
Military veterans and their families had gathered in front of the Supreme Court, demanding that taxpayer dollars for Saturday’s military parade and for troops in Los Angeles should be used for housing, healthcare and food.
“If there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force,” Trump told reporters earlier this week.
“It will be a parade like we haven’t had in many, many decades here,” he said. “And it’s a celebration of our country. It’s a celebration of the Army, actually.”
About 2,000 protests are planned nationwide against Trump spending millions on the parade, as well as his policies. No organized “No King” protests are planned in the nation’s capital.
But there was an event demonstrating against the military events by RefuseFascism on Saturday afternoon. They led a rally and marched outside the White House.
Trump “is forging and putting on display today a military loyal, not to the Constitution, not to the rule of law, but to Trump personally with all the White supremacy,” one of the chief organizers, Sunsara Taylor, told CNN.
A 20-year Navy veteran also told CNN: “The parade don’t belong here – you see that in dictatorships, okay? You see that in North Korea, you see that in China, you see that in Russia. This is we the people of the United States of America,”
Trump’s $45m military parade, marking US Army anniversary, goes ahead despite widespread backlash, storm forecast.
A massive military parade is set to roll through Washington, DC, as United States President Donald Trump marks his 79th birthday with a contentious show of force that coincides with the US Army’s 250th anniversary, as nationwide “No Kings” protests are held against Trump policies in more than 2,000 cities and towns.
The Washington, DC event on Saturday hastily added to the Army’s long-planned celebration, has drawn criticism for its cost, timing, and overt political overtones. There will not be a “No Kings” protest in the US capital to avoid confrontations.
The parade unfolds against a febrile, tense national backdrop. This past week, Trump deployed US Marines to manage protests in Los Angeles over aggressive immigration raids. He also activated the California National Guard without the governor’s consent, provoking legal challenges and accusations of federal overreach.
The military parade will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and snake down Constitution Avenue, flanked by security fences and watched closely by armed personnel at 6:30pm local time (22:30 GMT).
Nearly 6,200 soldiers will march, joined by 128 military vehicles – including 60-tonne M1 Abrams tanks – and 62 aircraft. A parachute jump, a concert headlined by Lee Greenwood, and fireworks are planned to cap off the night.
Trump announced on social media that the parade would proceed “rain or shine”, brushing off concerns over forecast thunderstorms and nationwide protests.
The National Weather Service has warned of possible lightning, which could force delays. Officials say they are prepared to evacuate the National Mall if necessary.
Despite assurances from the White House, the event has triggered backlash over its projected $45m price tag and fears of militarisation of domestic politics.
Critics argue that the use of heavy armoured vehicles risks damaging infrastructure, prompting the Army to install steel plates along the route to protect roads.
A recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found that 60 percent of Americans believe the parade is not a worthwhile use of public funds. Among those polled, 78 percent who expressed no strong opinion about the parade itself still disapproved of the expense.
Massive snowploughs have been stationed to block traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue, turning the thoroughfare into a pedestrian zone filled with food stalls and souvenir vendors. The festival atmosphere includes fitness competitions, military equipment displays, and a ceremonial cake-cutting.
‘No Kings’ rallies
Civil rights groups accuse the Trump administration of using military assets to intimidate and suppress dissent.
Protesters planning to take part in the demonstrations said they oppose Trump’s deeply divisive policies. The organisers’ website said the administration has “defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services”.
Although no demonstrations are formally scheduled in Washington, organisers of nationwide “No Kings” rallies say the parade reflects Trump’s personal ambition and ego, rather than any genuine tribute to the armed forces.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly reaffirmed that the event would proceed regardless of weather or criticism. However, lightning could lead to sudden delays and crowd evacuations.
The military spectacle is divided into historical segments, with troops and equipment representing different eras of US Army history.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected to attend. The parade will conclude with Trump swearing in 250 new or reenlisting troops and a dramatic skydiving display by the Army’s Golden Knights.
While the Army insists the event is about heritage and honouring service, critics argue the spectacle veers uncomfortably close to a political rally with troops as props.
WASHINGTON — Miles of fencing and concrete barriers lace the nation’s capital ahead of President Trump’s military parade along the National Mall on Saturday night — an event intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army, but which also coincides with the president’s birthday.
The event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of attendees, the Secret Service said, drawn to the rare spectacle of military hardware and soldiers filing down American streets. It is an event that Trump has sought ever since his first term, when he fawned over the sight of a military march down the Champs-Élysées during a Bastille Day celebration in Paris. Trump’s event, according to an Army spokesperson, will cost between $25 million and $45 million, depending on how much damage the tanks inflict on D.C. roads.
Dozens of U.S. aircraft, hundreds of military vehicles, and thousands of soldiers are expected to take part in the parade, followed by a fireworks show. Both uniformed and plainclothes officers were seen practicing their march through the city on Friday morning. But the extent of Trump’s participation is not entirely clear in light of the emerging crisis in the Middle East between Israel and Iran.
While a handful of counter-protests are expected within the district itself, dozens are planned around the country. The “No Kings” protests, according to their organizers, are meant to counter-program Trump’s “made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday.”
“Real power isn’t staged in Washington,” the group’s website reads. “It rises up everywhere else.”
The Trump administration has said it welcomes peaceful protests throughout the country on Saturday. But that White House commitment was called into question earlier this week, when a federal judge in California ruled that Trump had violated the law by federalizing the National Guard in response to largely peaceful demonstrations in Los Angeles protesting its immigration enforcement tactics.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he was “troubled by the implication” inherent in the Trump administration’s argument that “protest against the federal government, a core civil liberty protected by the First Amendment, can justify a finding of rebellion.”
Trump wrested control over the National Guard troops from California from Gov. Gavin Newsom to deploy 2,000 to Los Angeles after less than 24 hours of protests across the city.
Thousands more were later called to Los Angeles, as were hundreds of Marines.
Late Thursday, following an appeal by the administration, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals put Breyer’s decision on hold, leaving the forces in L.A. under Trump’s control as the litigation continues.
A U.S. Army sign is positioned in front of the White House for Saturday’s parade.
(Eric Thayer / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The deployments of troops to march in D.C. were not challenged, though critics of the current administration have similarly criticized their presence in an American city — blasting the parade as the sort of spectacle more expected from a country such as North Korea.
On Friday, downtown Washington was a maze of metal barriers surrounding monuments, museums and other landmarks such as the National Mall, where crowds are expected to gather beginning Saturday morning.
Constitution Avenue, where the parade will be held, was closed to traffic. Tourists wandered through openings in the gates, some lamenting the lengthy detours the barriers required — especially given the humidity and heat that pressed down on the city.
City road closures and flight delays from nearby Reagan National Airport are expected throughout much of Saturday. There is also a chance it will rain on the president’s parade, with thunderstorms, lightning and flash flooding forecast for the district. High chances of lightning, an Army spokesman said, could result in a cancellation of the festivities.
It was unclear to what extent protesters might target the parade itself. Trump has warned that “any” protesters at the event would be handled with “heavy force,” though the White House said that peaceful protests are fine.
Small signs of protest against the Trump administration were already apparent around the Mall Friday, though it was unclear when they’d been put up. One sign stuck to a utility box read, “Immigrants are not the enemy,” while another read, “All You Fascists Bound to Lose.”
A man road a bicycle along 14th Street near the Washington Monument holding up a large sign calling the president a “creep” and “unfit” — among other things.
The security measures were similar to those put in place during other major events in Washington’s downtown core — at least since Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed attempt to keep Trump in office after his 2020 loss to President Biden.
The insurrection caused widespread damage to the Capitol and put many lawmakers at risk, but drew a decidedly different response from Trump than the recent protests in L.A. Shortly after he was reelected, Trump pardoned all of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
WASHINGTON — The tanks are staged and ready to roll. Fencing and barriers are up. Protective metal plating has been laid out on Washington’s streets.
And more than 6,000 troops are poised to march near the National Mall to honor the Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, which happens to be President Trump’s 79th birthday.
With preparations well in hand, one big unknown is the weather. Rain is in the forecast, so there is a chance the parade could be interrupted by thunderstorms.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Thursday that rain or shine the parade will go on. But it could be delayed if there is lightning.
“No matter what, a historic celebration of our military service members will take place!” Kelly said in a statement.
Daylong festivities celebrating the Army are planned on the National Mall — featuring NFL players, fitness competitions and displays — culminating in the parade, which is estimated to cost $25 million to $45 million. The Army expects as many as 200,000 people to attend.
A special reviewing area is being set up for the president, where he will be watching as each formation passes the White House.
Here’s what to expect at the parade Saturday:
The troops
A total of 6,169 soldiers as well as 128 Army tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery will parade before the president and viewers, while 62 aircraft will pass overhead.
The parade will tell the Army’s story, starting with the Battle of Lexington — the first battle of the Revolutionary War — and move all the way to present day.
Each conflict will have 150 troops in period costume, followed by a section of hundreds of troops in modern-day dress. For the last several weeks, Army planners have been working out how to get it timed to exactly 90 minutes, Army spokesman Steve Warren said.
Planners first tried marching troops five across and 12 deep — but the parade ran long. To get it down to the exact time, each section will have soldiers marching seven across and 10 deep, Warren said. That means, for example, the Civil War gets exactly three minutes and 39 seconds and World War II gets 6 minutes and 22 seconds.
The tanks and aircraft
Then there are the tanks. For fans, 8 minutes and 23 seconds into the procession, the first World War I Renault tank will make its appearance.
Compared with today’s tanks, the Renaults are tiny and almost look like a robotic weapon out of “The Terminator.” But they were groundbreaking for their time, lightweight and enabling movement in that conflict’s deadly trench warfare.
The first aircraft will fly over starting 13 minutes and 37 seconds into the parade, including two B-25 Mitchell bombers, four P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft and one C-47 Skytrain. The latter was made famous by the three stripes painted on the wings and body to mark it friendly over U.S. battleships on June 6, 1944, as thousands of Skytrain aircraft dropped more than 13,000 paratroopers into France on D-Day.
The procession will move along into the Gulf War, the war on terror and the modern day, showcasing the Army’s M1A2 Abrams tanks and other troop carriers, like the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Stryker combat vehicle.
There will even be six High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS — the mobile rocket launchers that have been highly valued by Ukraine as it has defended itself against Russia’s invasion.
A massive show of Army air power will begin 48 minutes in, when a long air parade of UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters fly overhead as the Army’s story swings toward its future warfare.
The parade finale
The final sections of marching troops represent the Army’s future. The band at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will lead hundreds of future troops, including members of the Texas A&M Army Corps of Cadets, new enlistees just going through Army initial entry training, and cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel in South Carolina.
The last section includes 250 new recruits or soldiers who are reenlisting. As they reach the president, they will turn toward him and raise their right hand, and Trump will swear them into service.
The parade will end with a celebratory jump by the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, which will present Trump with an American flag.
After the parade, a 19-minute fireworks show and concert will round out the celebration.
This Saturday, a parade celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary kicks off in Washington. It will include nearly 10,000 soldiers and dozens of helicopters, tanks and armored fighting vehicles. The 90-minute event is expected to cost $45 million — factoring in the roughly $16 million for anticipated damage to roads not accustomed to such heavy tracked vehicles.
In a recent interview, President Trump promoted the event, which also falls on his 79th birthday: “We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it.”
Thing is — after 25 years in the Army, from West Point to Iraq — I (like everyone else who’s worn a uniform) can affirm that our equipment isn’t what makes us great. Our Army and all America’s armed services are made of men and women, not metal and wire. The gear always changes; the Americans who serve and sacrifice are the constant.
It’s not just the parade. Other recent events suggest the commander-in-chief could use a friendly nudge toward the right way to honor our military. On May 24, Trump gave a graduation speech at West Point with his red campaign hat on, veered into a five-minute story about avoiding “trophy wives,” blew off the traditional handshake with cadets by saying, “I’m going back now to deal with Russia, to deal with China” — and then flew straight to his golf club in New Jersey.
The next morning, Trump began with a Truth Social message: “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY.” Which made his next “weave,” during what’s typically a somber speech at Arlington National Cemetery, seem almost tame: “We have the World Cup and we have the Olympics…. Now look what I have. I have everything.”
Of course, neither is exactly the right tone to memorialize those who’ve fallen. (Who even says “happy” Memorial Day?)
But gaffes like this raise a far more important question: How should we honor our military? How ought civilians properly thank those in uniform, past and present?
It can be awkward. I know from experience. I was a 24-year-old lieutenant when I got home from my first yearlong tour in Iraq. I was wearing my camo uniform when someone loudly said, “Thanks for your service!” from about 15 feet away. I didn’t know what to do, so I nodded in response. I was embarrassed at the acknowledgment. Better men whom I served with didn’t come home.
I’m not the first to feel that feeling. Eighty years ago, nearly to the day, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered an address in London just after the end of the Second World War. He said, “Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.” Anyone who’s served in real close combat knows full well that when you’re fortunate enough to get to come home, you can be proud, very proud of your service — but you never brag or boast.
So here’s the right way to think about honoring our military: We appreciate a modest acknowledgment — no more, never less — of our unique role in defending our country and way of life.
“No more” because we are not special. Soldiers aren’t movie superheroes — if we were, there would be nothing to honor because there’d be no risk. We come to service from among you. We’re the guy you sat next to in chemistry, the girl you played with on the playground. We’re not always victims, we’re not always villains, we’re not always valorous, and we’re not always victorious. We’re some blend of all these things. Even George Washington, arguably our greatest general, who won the war that mattered most and protected America when it was still in its crib — worriedconstantly about losing. He was scared because he was human, and so have been all those since who’ve worn an American uniform.
“Never less” because we are unique. We train to get over our fears to fight. We go where we’re sent, not where we choose. We trade soldiers’ lives for our nation’s protection, for objectives, for time, for military value. Nobody ever said this better than John Ruskin. “The soldier’s trade, verily and essentially, is not slaying, but being slain,” the English historian wrote in the 1800s. “Put him in a fortress breach, with all the pleasures of the world behind him, and only death and his duty in front of him, he will keep his face to the front; and he knows that this choice may be put to him at any moment.”
But just as we acknowledge this unique role, we in uniform must also equally appreciate those who make our service possible. For those in uniform aren’t the only ones in America who sacrifice. Imagine the parents who send their only daughter or son into combat — would anyone dare say they do not also risk everything?
Or other forms of service. My mother was a special education teacher in a poorer part of town and struggled for years to give a chance to otherwise forgotten kids. My father was among the first to join the Transportation Security Administration after 9/11. So I’ve seen civilians serving, even when it was hard.
There are some who misguidedly claim military members have a monopoly on service. This myopia is best captured by a bumper sticker shaped in a soldier silhouette: “Freedom Isn’t Free — I Paid for It.”
This claim is as flimsy as the sticker it’s printed on. It ignores those who also contribute to the fullness of freedom: journalists who free the truth, doctors who free us of disease, clergy who free our souls, teachers who free us of ignorance, lawyers who free the innocent, and so many more in society who silently serve every day. After all, each soldier is the direct result of this entire community. And while basic security may be necessary for the exercise of freedom, it’s certainly not sufficient to ensure “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” That takes a bigger American team.
It’s taken me two decades to figure out how to respond to “Thanks for your service.” I now say, “It’s been the greatest privilege — thank you for making it possible.”
That doesn’t cost $45 million or even 45 cents. All it should ever cost is a brief moment of direct eye contact, a few genuinely felt words — and never ever forget the handshake.
ML Cavanaugh is the author of the forthcoming book “Best Scar Wins: How You Can Be More Than You Were Before.” @MLCavanaugh
That same day, the volunteers and staff of White Pony Express will do what they’ve done for nearly a dozen years, taking perfectly good food that would otherwise be tossed out and using it to feed hungry and needy people living in one of the most comfortable and affluent regions of California.
Since its founding, White Pony has processed and passed along more than 26 million pounds of food — the equivalent of about 22 million meals — thanks to such Bay Area benefactors as Whole Foods, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s. That’s 13,000 tons of food that would have otherwise gone to landfills, rotting and emitting 31,000 tons of CO2 emissions into our overheated atmosphere.
It’s such a righteous thing, you can practically hear the angels sing.
“Our mission is to connect abundance and need,” said Eve Birge, White Pony’s chief executive officer, who said the nonprofit’s guiding principle is the notion “we are one human family and when one of us moves up, we all move up.”
That mission has become more difficult of late as the Trump administration takes a scythe to the nation’s social safety net.
White Pony receives most of its support from corporations, foundations, community organizations and individual donors. But a sizable chunk comes from the federal government; the nonprofit could lose up to a third of its $3-million annual budget due to cuts by the Trump administration.
“We serve 130,000 people each year,” Birge said. “That puts in jeopardy one-third of the people we’re serving, because if I don’t find another way to raise that money, then we’ll have to scale back programs. I’ll have to consider letting go staff.” (White Pony has 17 employees and about 1,200 active volunteers.)
“We’re a seven-day-a-week operation, because people are hungry seven days a week,” Birge said. “We’ve talked about having to pull back to five or six days.”
She had no comment on Trump’s big, braggadocious celebration of self, a Soviet-style display of military hardware — tanks, horses, mules, parachute jumpers, thousands of marching troops — celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary and, oh yes, the president’s 79th birthday.
Marivel Mendoza wasn’t so reticent.
“All of the programs that are being gutted and we’re using taxpayer dollars to pay for a parade?” she asked after a White Pony delivery truck pulled up with several pallets of fruit, veggies and other groceries.
Mendoza’s organization, which operates from a small office center in Brentwood, serves more than 500 migrant farmworkers and their families in the far eastern reaches of the Bay Area. “We’re going to see people starving at some point,” Mendoza said. “It’s unethical and immoral. I don’t know how [Trump] sleeps at night.”
Certainly not lightheaded, or with his empty belly growling from hunger.
All the food processed at White Pony Express, including these bell peppers, is checked for quality and freshness before distribution.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
Those who work at White Pony speak of it with a spiritual reverence.
Paula Keeler, 74, took a break from her recent shift inspecting produce to discuss the organization’s beneficence. (Every bit of food that comes through the door is checked for quality and freshness before being trucked from White Pony’s Concord warehouse and headquarters to one of more than 100 community nonprofits.)
Keeler retired about a decade ago from a number-crunching job with a Bay Area school district. She’s volunteered at White Pony for the last nine years, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
“It’s become my church, my gym and my therapist,” she said, as pulsing rhythm and blues played from a portable speaker inside the large sorting room. “Tuesdays, I deliver to two senior homes. They’re mostly little women and they can go to bed at night knowing their refrigerator is full tomorrow, and that’s what touches my heart.”
Keeler hadn’t heard about Trump’s parade. “I don’t watch the news because it makes me want to throw up,” she said. Told of the spectacle and its cost, she responded with equanimity.
“It’s kind of like the Serenity Prayer,” Keeler said. “What can you do and what can’t you do? I try to stick with what I can do.”
It’s not much in vogue these days to quote Joe Biden, but the former president used to say something worth recollecting. “Don’t tell me what you value,” he often stated. “Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
Trump’s priorities — I, me, mine — are the same as they’ve ever been. But there’s something particularly stomach-turning about squandering tens of millions of dollars on a vanity parade while slashing funds that could help feed those in need.
Michael Bagby has been volunteering at White Pony for three years, delivering food and training others to drive the nonprofit’s fleet of trucks.
(Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times)
Michael Bagby, 66, works part time at White Pony. He retired after a career piloting big rigs and started making deliveries and training White Pony drivers about three years ago. His passion is fishing — Bagby dreams of reeling in a deep-sea marlin — but no hobby can nourish his soul as much as helping others.
He was aware of Trump’s pretentious pageant and its heedless price tag.
“Nothing I say is going to make a difference whether the parade goes on or not,” Bagby said, settling into the cab of a 26-foot refrigerated box truck. “But it would be better to show an interest in the true needs of the country rather than a parade.”
His route that day called for stops at a middle school and a church in working-class Antioch, then Mendoza’s nonprofit in neighboring Brentwood.
As Bagby pulled up to the church, the pastor and several volunteers were waiting outside. The modest white stucco building was fringed with dead grass. Traffic from nearby Highway 4 produced an insistent, thrumming soundtrack.
“There are a lot of people in need. A lot,” said Tania Hernandez, 45, who runs the church’s food pantry. Eighty percent of the food it provides comes from White Pony, helping feed around 100 families a week. “If it wasn’t for them,” Hernandez said, “we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
With help, Bagby dropped off several pallets. He raised the tailgate, battened down the latches and headed for the cab. A church member walked up and stuck out his hand. “God bless you,” he said.
June 9 (UPI) — Preparations are still underway for a military parade Saturday in Washington, D.C., celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary.
The event is projected to cost $45 million and possibly higher because of possible road damage that could happen because of heavy military equipment.
Construction workers this week have been erecting a stage along Constitution Avenue near the White House. Steel plates have been embedded in the asphalt to protect damage from 140,000-pound Abrams tanks.
Saturday also is Flag Day and President Donald Trump‘s 79th birthday.
The parade will run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the Army Golden Knights’ parachute demonstration and a concert at the Ellipse. A fireworks show will occur at 9:45 p.m., the U.S. Army said.
The parade will include 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft going from the Pentagon to the Washington Monument. Around 200,000 spectators are expected to watch the parade, including Army personnel wearing uniforms representing every U.S. conflict dating back to the Revolutionary War.
About 1,800 Soldiers from III Armored Corps in Fort Cavazos will participate.
This week, vehicles have been arriving by train from Texas.
“The Army’s 250th birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesperson for the III Armored Corps, said earlier this week as one of the trains left Fort Cavazos, Texas. “This is a chance to see our soldiers, our leaders and the world-class force on full display in our nation’s capital. We look forward to being a part of history.”
A list and photos of military equipment is available on the Army website.
The parade starts at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue North and travels down Constitution Avenue along the National Mall, ending at 15th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest, the U.S. Army said.
D.C. officials have expressed concern about potential road damage from the vehicles, including 60-ton tanks.
Army has installed thick steel plates at key turns but straightaway on Constitution Avenue remain unprotected.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said potential damage could cost millions but the Army has pledged to cover the costs.
During his first presidency, President Trump asked the Pentagon to organize a military parade in the capital after he watched the French Bastille Day military parade in France in 2017. But Pentagon personnel convinced him then not to move forward with plans.
Instead in 2019, he celebrated Independence Day with a speech at the Lincoln Memorial with military planes’ flyovers. Two Bradley fighting vehicles also were at the Lincoln Memorial.
“I think it’s time for us to celebrate a little bit,” Trump said Monday. “You know we’ve had a lot of victories.”
The White House estimates the parade will cost between $25 million and $45 million.
Besides the parade, concert and fireworks, there will be a fitness competition at 9:30 a.m. and a festival beginning at 11 a.m. that includes an NFL kids zone and military demonstrations, along with other activities.
Flights to and from Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., will be suspended for 90 minutes during the military parade.
June 9 (UPI) — Preparations are underway for a military parade Saturday in Washington, D.C., celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary that is projected to cost $45 million and possibly higher because of possible road damage.
Construction workers are erecting a stage along Constitution Avenue near the White House. Steel plates have been embedded in the asphalt to protect damage from 140,000-pound Abrams tanks.
Saturday also is Flag Day and President Donald Trump‘s 79th birthday.
The parade will run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the Army Golden Knights’ parachute demonstration and a concert at the Ellipse. A fireworks show will occur at 9:45 p.m., the U.S. Army said.
The parade will include 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft going from the Pentagon to the Washington Monument. Around 200,000 spectators are expected to watch the parade, including Army personnel wearing uniforms representing every U.S. conflict dating back to the Revolutionary War.
About 1,800 Soldiers from III Armored Corps in Fort Cavazos will participate.
Vehicles have been arriving by train from Texas.
“The Army’s 250th birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesperson for the III Armored Corps, said as one of the trains left Fort Cavazos, Texas. “This is a chance to see our soldiers, our leaders and the world-class force on full display in our nation’s capital. We look forward to being a part of history.”
A list and photos of military equipment is available on the Army website.
The parade starts at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue North and travels down Constitution Avenue along the National Mall, ending at 15th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest, the U.S. Army said.
D.C. officials have expressed concern about potential road damage from the vehicles, including 60-ton tanks.
Army has installed thick steel plates at key turns but straightaway on Constitution Avenue remain unprotected.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said potential damage could cost millions but the Army has pledged to cover the costs.
During his first presidency, President Trump asked the Pentagon to organize a military parade in the capital after he watched the French Bastille Day military parade in France in 2017. But Pentagon personnel convinced him then not to move forward with plans.
Instead in 2019, he celebrated Independence Day with a speech at the Lincoln Memorial with military planes’ flyovers. Two Bradley fighting vehicles also were at the Lincoln Memorial.
“I think it’s time for us to celebrate a little bit,” Trump said Monday. “You know we’ve had a lot of victories.”
The White House estimates the parade will cost between $25 million and $45 million.
Besides the parade, concert and fireworks, there will be a fitness competition at 9:30 a.m. and a festival beginning at 11 a.m. that includes an NFL kids zone and military demonstrations, along with other activities.
Flights to and from Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Va., will be suspended for 90 minutes during the military parade.
President Donald Trump congratulates a cadet at the United States Military Academy graduation ceremony in Michie Stadium at West Point, New York, on May 24, and will review the Army’s 250th birthday parade on June 14. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
June 7 (UPI) — The U.S. Army celebrates its 250th birthday on June 14th in the nation’s capital, which coincides with President Donald Trump‘s 79th birthday, and will be marked by a parade that may include tanks, rocket launchers and more than 100 military vehicles.
With the two birthdays occurring on the same day, the previously scheduled parade that was intended as a relatively small event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., has grown in size and cost.
Up to 300 soldiers and civilians, the U.S. Army Band and four cannons were initially slated to honor the Army’s 250th birthday, with seating available for 120 attendees, The Washington Post reported.
U.S. Army leaders last year sought a permit for the event, but Trump’s election victory has changed its scope, while doubling as an unofficial celebration of the president’s birthday.
Axios reported the parade will live up to Trump’s request for a showcase the U.S. miliatary’s might, with dozens of tanks, rocket launchers, missiles and more than 100 other military aircraft and vehicles participating.
About 6,600 Army troops will participate, and the Army is paying to house them in area hotels.
The parade route has been moved to the northwest portion of Constitution Avenue and will include a flyover of F-22 fighter jets, World War II planes and Vietnam-era aircraft.
The event is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. EDT at 23rd Street and continue along Constitution Avenue N.W. to 15th Street. Trump will review the parade on the Ellipse.
The event has an estimated cost of nearly $45 million, including more than $10 million for road repairs after the heavy military equipment passes over.
The parade’s estimated cost has Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., skeptical about its benefits.
“I would have recommended against the parade,” Wicker told an interviewer on Thursday, but the Department of Defense wants to use it as a recruiting tool.
“On the other hand, [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth] feels that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for thousands of young Americans to see what a great opportunity it is to participate in a great military force,” Wicker said. “So, we’ll see.”
A total of 79 people were injured after a car drove into a crowd after Liverpool Football Club’s trophy parade.
A former British marine has appeared in court accused of driving a vehicle into a crowd of people celebrating Liverpool Football Club’s Premier League title win.
Paul Doyle briefly appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning, where he read out his personal details, according to United Kingdom media reports.
Doyle, 53, is facing seven charges, including dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, which carry a maximum life sentence if convicted, after a dark Ford Galaxy drove into Liverpool Football Club supporters attending a parade in the city centre to celebrate the club winning the Premier League.
A total of 79 people, aged between nine and 78, were injured in the incident, and no deaths were reported.
Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims told reporters on Thursday that seven people remained in hospital.
According to local reports, Doyle lives in a suburb of Liverpool and is a businessman with three teenage children.
The charges followed what Crown Prosecution Service’s Sarah Hammond described as a “complex and ongoing investigation”.
“Prosecutors and police are continuing to work at pace to review a huge volume of evidence,” she said.
“This includes multiple pieces of video footage and numerous witness statements. It is important to ensure every victim gets the justice they deserve,” she added.
Shortly after the incident, Merseyside Police quickly ruled out possible terrorism as the reason behind the crash and revealed that the suspect was a white British man, in a move to stop the spread of misinformation online.
Last year, misinformation circulating online about an attacker who killed three girls in the Southport area led to anti-immigration and Islamophobic riots in parts of England.
Paul Doyle appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday
Paul Doyle has appeared in court accused of driving his car into a crowd of people after Liverpool FC’s trophy parade.
The former Royal Marine, 53, faces seven charges including wounding with intent, causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, attempting to cause GBH with intent and dangerous driving.
A total of 79 people were injured on Water Street in the city centre just before 18:00 BST on Monday.
The father-of-three of Burghill Road in West Derby, Liverpool, was escorted into the dock at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court wearing a black suit, grey tie and white shirt.
Mr Doyle appeared emotional as he spoke quietly only to confirm his date of birth and age.
For much of the hearing, he sat in the dock with his head down, listening to proceedings.
None of his family or friends chose to attend court today. The defendant stood with his head down as the charges were read to him.
Mr Doyle was not asked to enter a plea. District Judge Paul Healey confirmed he has imposed a number of reporting restrictions.
Richard Derby, defending, confirmed there will be no application for bail today.
Footage shows car plough into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant Liverpool fans packed the city centre on Bank Holiday Monday and lined the 10-mile (16km) parade route as Liverpool FC celebrated winning their second Premier League crown and 20th top-flight league title.
A pram carrying a baby boy was hit by a car and spun metres down the street after it was hit, but the child was not hurt.
A fundraising campaign set up for those affected by the incident has raised more than £30,000, including a £10,000 donation from ex-player Jamie Carragher’s charity foundation.
Mr Doyle will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court this afternoon for a hearing before the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC.
Rescue crews attend to victims after a man rammed a crowd gathered for a victory parade for the Liverpool FC soccer team in Liverpool on Monday. Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE
May 29 (UPI) — Police charged a 53-year-old man on Thursday in connection to this week’s car-ramming incident at a Liverpool parade that left scores injured.
At least 79 people were injured in the incident Monday when the man, identified as Paul Doyle from the West Derby area of Liverpool, allegedly drove a Ford Galaxy into the celebrants in the city center. Some tried to divert the car before it hit more parade-goers. The parade was in celebration of Liverpool FC’s title victory in the English Premier League soccer tournament.
Seven of the people who were injured remain hospitalized.
“I hope that all of those who were injured or witnessed this terrible incident are able — given time — to heal and recover,” Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said at a Thursday news conference.
Doyle was charged Thursday with two counts of unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of attempted unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm and one count of dangerous driving.
He remains in policy custody and is to make his first appearance at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Friday morning.
Doyle was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offenses and driving while “unfit through drugs,” police reported. Police said the incident was not terrorism related and is believed to be an isolated event.
Local media reported that police believe that the driver of the vehicle followed an ambulance into the area that was supposed to have been restricted to traffic for the parade.
Doyle’s LinkedIn profile says that he is the head of cyber initiatives at a data center and served in the Royal Marines from 1990 to 1994. Local media reported that Doyle is a married father of three.
Neighbors described him as ” a normal Liverpool dad” and a “very sensible family man,” The Times of London reported.
Police said officers are continuing to investigate the incident.
Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire Sarah Hammond said the charges will be kept under review amid the investigation.
“Criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial,” she said Thursday, as she warned against sharing information online that could prejudice the legal proceedings.
“Please allow the legal process to take its course without undue speculation,” she said.
