logo
Trump plans for massive military parade on his birthday revealed – with 7,000 troops, 50 choppers & 150 vehicles

Trump plans for massive military parade on his birthday revealed – with 7,000 troops, 50 choppers & 150 vehicles

The Irish Sun02-05-2025

GRAND plans are being made for a massive military parade on Donald Trump's birthday - with some 7,000 troops marching and 50 helicopters flying over Washington DC.
The president reportedly plans to splash a whopping $100 million on the full-blown military spectacle to show the US might.
Advertisement
9
US Army honor guard drill team marching in Memorial Day parade in Washington DC
9
Plans are also to roll down battle tanks, massive military equipment, aircraft and missiles
Credit: AFP
9
soldiers from the Marine Corps, lined up at the Veterans Day Parade in NYC.
Credit: Getty
9
A source in Washington DC has revealed that Trump is planning a massive military parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army on June 14 - which also happens to be his birthday.
Plans are to start the procession at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, from where the contingents will snake through the streets of the capital to reach the White House.
The grandiose military parade will showcase soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines marching in their uniforms in front of thousands of spectators, the
As many as 6,600 troops and seven band contingents have reportedly been called to participate in the military parade.
Advertisement
They will be accompanied by at least 150 military vehicles and some 50 air force choppers.
Some 2,000 civilians could also take march alongside the US military.
Plans are also to roll down battle tanks, massive military equipment, and aircraft and missiles, just as he first envisioned the parade during his first term.
While US officials have yet to release the cost of the planned parade, the figure is expected to reach tens of millions of dollars.
Advertisement
Most read in The US Sun
This includes the cost of transporting all the military equipment across Washington and putting up safety measures for the public expected to gather at the parade.
'We're just getting started': Donald Trump hails his first 100 days in fiery speech & says 'golden age' is beginning
Army spokesman Col. Dave Butler said that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary.
He added: 'We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us.
'We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers.
Advertisement
"A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.'
And Trump appeared to tease the grand plan in a post on Truth Social, where he wrote: "We are going to start celebrating our victories again!'
He also vowed to rename May 8, now known as Victory in Europe Day, as 'Victory Day for World War II,' and to change November 11, Veterans Day, to 'Victory Day for World War I".
FIRST-TERM PARADE SCUTTLED
In 2017, Trump wanted the US military to throw a parade as a show of force after watching a French military spectacle the year before.
Advertisement
President Emmanuel Macron treated the president to an elaborate military display, which Trump is said to have become a big fan of.
After watching the grand spectacle, he said, "We're going to have to try and top it.'
But Trump's plans were cut short by district officials and other military leaders, and he was forced to cancel the plan, which reportedly cost $91 million.
Authorities complained that it was too big an amount to spend on a military parade and that rolling down battle tanks and other heavy equipment would significantly damage the roads.
Advertisement
Washington
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned Trump's plans at the time.
"The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it," she said.
"When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it.
"Never let someone hold you up! I will instead …attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date."
Advertisement
BIRTHDAY SPECTACLE
They also warned Trump of public safety - and a whopping $21 million price tag that comes attached to it.
While Trump reluctantly had to give up on the plan during his first term, it seems like the president is all set to bring it back.
And it could be the greatest military spectacle the world has ever seen.
Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis told the Washington City Paper that he was given a 'heads up' about the parade by the White House, but with no firm details.
Advertisement
"It's not clear to me what the scope of a parade would be, but I would hope the federal government remains sensitive to the pain and concerns of numerous [military] veteran residents who have lost or might lose their jobs in recent federal decisions, as they reflect on how best to celebrate the Army's anniversary," he said.
9
Donald Trump held a rally in Michigan to mark his first 100 days in office
Credit: Reuters
9
The president is said to have had his eyes on a full-blown military show, displaying the US might for years
Credit: Getty
AMERICA'S 250th CELEBRATION
Trump is also planning a so-called Great American State Fair to celebrate the country's 250th birthday in 2026.
Advertisement
Trump floated plans to showcase America's greatness in its true sense - packed in a year-long grand festival to mark the country's anniversary, dubbed the semiquincentennial, in a grand style that can be seen in the video above.
Trump, who led his 2024 election campaign on the promise to make America great again, will take this opportunity to portray the country's might in the most patriotic way.
It was just a year ago when he called all Americans to prepare for the Great American State Fair - a gigantic carnival of joy that would mark America's 250th birthday in true Trump fashion.
Various contingents could take part in a grand parade in front of millions of people visiting the fair - and Trump could build a "National Garden of American Heroes' with statues of important figures in American
history
.
Advertisement
Read more on the Irish Sun
This may include giant structures of George Washington, Neil Armstrong, and Muhammad Ali.
Use our
9
A giant portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping is carried atop a float at a parade to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China
9
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greets the crowd during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army
Credit: Reuters
Advertisement
9
Vladimir Putin at Russia's Victory Day military parade in central Moscow in 2024
Credit: AFP

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sam Kiley: Netanyahu fears peace now would risk Tehran getting nuclear weapons in future
Sam Kiley: Netanyahu fears peace now would risk Tehran getting nuclear weapons in future

Irish Independent

time30 minutes ago

  • Irish Independent

Sam Kiley: Netanyahu fears peace now would risk Tehran getting nuclear weapons in future

As Trump plays for time, Israel is banking on regime change in Iran ©UK Independent Today at 21:30 Britain, France, Germany and the European Union all rushed their foreign ministers to Geneva for talks with Iran in a desperate attempt to give peace a chance. But it is not clear that peace now is the best option. A week into Israel's bombardment of Iran, and its assassination of the country's top nuclear scientists and securocrats, the Islamic state has tightened its grip – and the nuclear facilities nearly a kilometre underground in Fordow remain intact.

Appeals court backs Donald Trump on deployment of National Guard in LA
Appeals court backs Donald Trump on deployment of National Guard in LA

Irish Independent

time30 minutes ago

  • Irish Independent

Appeals court backs Donald Trump on deployment of National Guard in LA

©Reuters Today at 21:30 A US appeals court has let Donald Trump retain control of California's National Guard while the state's Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the Republican president's use of the troops to quell protests in Los Angeles. The US president's decision to send troops into LA prompted a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and inflamed political tension.

Letters: $200m wasted each day by Israel on missile attacks, all the while global poverty persists
Letters: $200m wasted each day by Israel on missile attacks, all the while global poverty persists

Irish Independent

time30 minutes ago

  • Irish Independent

Letters: $200m wasted each day by Israel on missile attacks, all the while global poverty persists

Between the Russian-Ukraine and the Gaza wars, the cost must now be astronomical. The human cost in these wars is either incalculable, or is of no concern to the warmongers. It is hard to imagine that it is easy to procure money for war, yet so difficult to procure money for food and health in impoverished nations – funding that would provide a greater chance of a peaceful world. The silence of world leaders is deafening on this massive disparity. The question is: Do financial benefits for some obviate the death and suffering that munitions inflict upon human beings? Declan Foley, Melbourne, Australia Excuses for war on Iran are not merited and evoke echoes of Iraq invasion Israel has been claiming for many years that Iran is close to building a nuclear bomb. The evidence for this is far from clear-cut. In fact, Benjamin Netanyahu's pretext for war increasingly resembles the infamous 'weapons of mass destruction' allegation used to justify the US invasion of Iraq. However, it is widely acknowledged, but often left unsaid, that Israel itself has a considerable stockpile of nuclear weapons. Estimates suggest it has more than 90 nuclear warheads. Who knows the actual number? The Israeli state has never signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Iran is controlled by a vicious, opp­ressive regime, but the suggestion from the US and others that Israel is on the side of the angels in this conflict is plainly ludicrous. Fintan Lane, Lucan, Co Dublin Here's hoping if Ayatollah Khamenei is overthrown a president will be elected Whether the Islamic Republic of Iran survives under the leadership of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or another clerical figure, Iran certainly doesn't need a return of the Pahlavi dynasty that ruled the nation between 1925 and 1979. Iran's last shah was a despot whose 1941 to 1979 rule was enforced by his notorious secret police, Savak, from 1953 until he was overthrown. Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi has no place on the Peacock Throne. If change does occur in Iran, hopefully a democratically elected president will be the choice of the people. Finally, it would be in the Middle East's best interests if Benjamin Netanyahu could submit himself to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity committed against the innocent Palestinian people. Dominic Shelmerdine, London Starmer stoops too low for Trump as American ideals drift away from Europe Frank Coughlan rightly bristles at the image of Keir Starmer stooping to gather Donald Trump's dropped papers – a moment of awkward courtesy that risks becoming a metaphor for European diplomacy ('Europe should neither bow nor bend to bully boy Trump', June 20). But beneath the theatre lies a deeper truth: the post-World War II order where Europe leaned on American strength while lecturing it on restraint is in terminal decline. America's global leadership is no longer anchored in shared ideals, but in transactional nationalism. Trump embodies this shift, but it won't end with him. The next era of geopolitics will be defined not by Atlantic unity, but by cold, conditional alliances based on cost-benefit calculation. I suspect that by 2030 we'll see a Europe that either relearns strategic autonomy – investing in its own defence, industrial capacity and global leverage – or one that fragments into spheres of influence too dependent to push back, too divided to act. The choice will have been made not at summits, but in the small moments when leaders kneel instead of standing. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh If the willpower is there, infrastructure logjams in the State can be cleared This week, senator Michael ­McDowell urged the Government to replicate a piece of legislation from 1925 that the fledgling Free State government enacted to build the massive Ardnacrusha electricity station on the Shannon. It covered the state financing of the project, the CPO-ing of land, construction of canals and so forth. This is the way, he suggested, to overcome the administrative sclerosis blocking the construction of the north Dublin sewage treatment plant, the piping of water from the Shannon to Dublin, talked about for nearly 30 years, the building of vitally needed onshore and offshore wind-energy farms, as well as key road and rail projects. Meanwhile, every government member, from the Taoiseach down, and the heads of the various state infrastructural agencies (EirGrid, ESB, Uisce Éireann, transport agencies) acknowledge the dire consequences of not resolving these logjams, and the fact that the existing permitting systems are not for purpose. Last month, the Government launched its new Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce to underline this fact. But this will be little more than the latest episode of 'kicking the can down the road' unless the Government undertakes the kind of bold legislative initiative urged by Mr McDowell. So, could it happen? Well, this week the Government was able to draft, pass and have enacted a bill extending Rent Pressure Zones to the whole country. Where there's a will, there's a way. Stephen O'Byrnes, Dublin 4 Spare a thought – and some water – for wildlife during this hot weather It's hot out there, so please remember a dish of fresh water for the birds, and if you're lucky enough to have them, a dish of fresh water for the hedgehogs as well. Eve Parnell, Dublin 2 Be careful with your words as they can do harm and have dark consequences Our workplaces, schools and homes are filled with hurtful words. Words are powerful weapons and can be used in the most hurtful way to harm another person and trigger a journey on a downward spiral. We need to think before we speak. Let's use words to be kind to one another.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store