5 Things To Know About The Army’s 250th Birthday Parade

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

Thousands of soldiers and dozens of military vehicles will parade through the streets of Washington on June 14 to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army.

The parade will be one part of a week of events to celebrate the history and founding of the largest and oldest service in the U.S. military.

It will serve as the centerpiece for the Army’s birthday celebrations and will feature about 6,600 soldiers, 150 ground vehicles, 50 aircraft, 34 horses, two mules, and a dog.

Route of Parade

The parade will start at 6:30 p.m. on June 14 at the intersection of 23rd St. NW and Constitution Avenue and continue east on Constitution Avenue before ending on 15th St. NW.

Army spokeswoman Heather J. Hagan said the parade and accompanying events on June 14 are expected to cost between $25 million and $45 million.

A map showing the route of the parade and locations of featured events celebrating the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army in Washington on June 14, 2025. Illustration by The Epoch Times, MapTiler, Getty Images, Pngtree

Parade Will Cover Eras of Army History

With this milestone birthday, the Army will use the parade to display its history, from the Revolutionary War to the present day.

The modern Army has its roots in the Continental Army of the original 13 American colonies.

Following the outbreak of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On June 14, 1775, it ordered the formation of the Continental Army, which under George Washington’s leadership bore much of the burden of fighting for American independence.

The Army has traditionally celebrated the date as its birthday.

Among the various Army units participating in the parade will be the Third Infantry Regiment. The Third Infantry Regiment is the Regular Army’s oldest infantry unit and traces its origins to the First American Regiment, which was formed in 1784.

Ceremonial units such as the Fife and Drum Corps and the “Commander in Chief’s Guard” will also appear in the parade wearing uniforms inspired by those worn by members of the Continental Army.

(Top Left) U.S. soldiers load wounded comrades onto amphibious vehicles during the opening stages of the Battle of the Philippines from the shore of Leyte, Philippines, on Oct. 31, 1944. (Top Right) U.S. Army troops charge across a dusty field during a battle in World War I in late 1917. (Bottom Left) Civilians and military personnel watch a mass parachute jump by U.S. 82nd Airborne Division troops during Exercise Long Horn at Fort Hood, Texas, on March 28, 1952. (Bottom Right) A U.S. Army 1st Air Cavalry soldier holds his rifle above his head while directing helicopters landing in a field during an operation north of Saigon in the Vietnam War. The helicopters are transporting unit members to their patrol area. U.S. Navy/Getty Images

Continuing the journey through history, the parade will feature members of the 42nd Infantry Division, which was formed during World War I from National Guard elements from 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, and 10th Mountain Division—three divisions that gained prominence during World War II—will also participate.

Showcasing the service of the U.S. ground fighting force through the Vietnam War era, the parade will feature members of the First Cavalry Division and the 25th Infantry Division.

Originally formed in 1921 as a horse cavalry division, the First Cavalry Division was reorganized as an airmobile force during the Vietnam War. Members of the division fought in the Battle of Ia Drang, which was the first major battle of the Vietnam War and was the subject of the 2002 film “We Were Soldiers.”

The 25th Infantry Division, nicknamed “Tropic Lightning,” was formed during World War II and specialized in the jungle environment of the Pacific theater of the war. The 25th Infantry Division’s proficiency in jungle warfare again proved instrumental in the Vietnam War effort.

The parade will also feature members of the Army Special Operations Command, including members of the 75th Ranger Regiment and First Special Forces Regiment. Air crew from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which specializes in flying special operations units in and out of danger, are set to fly over the parade route.

Along with the various active Army units, the parade will feature members of the Army Reserve, cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and other senior military colleges, and prospective enlistees.

Two B-25 Mitchell bombers fly in formation with dozens of other World War II-era aircraft over Culpeper Regional Airport in Brandy Station, Va., on May 7, 2015. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Tanks and Airpower on Display

Ninety of the 150 ground vehicles appearing in the parade will come from Fort Cavazos, Texas, the home base for the III Armored Corps. These vehicles will include 28 M1A2 sep V3 Abrams tanks, 28 M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and six M109A7 Paladin 155 mm self-propelled howitzers.

The III Armored Corps will transport the vehicles by rail to Jessup, Maryland, and from there move them by road on lowboy trailers to their starting point in the parade.

This transportation process will also serve as a training opportunity for the soldiers of Fort Cavazos.

Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for the III Armored Corps, told The Epoch Times that the railhead operations for this parade are another repetition that helps expand the corps’s proficiency with intensive logistical operations.

“Let’s say we have to really go somewhere in the time of conflict or war, we have a set of soldiers that can load faster, tie down faster … and it just increases our speed to deploy anywhere around the world,” Sztalkoper said.

The parade will feature other lighter land vehicles and towed artillery systems.

Spectators can also look to the sky to view flyovers from World War II-era aircraft such as the B-25 Mitchell, P-51 Mustang, and C-47 Skytrain. The parade will also feature flyovers from OH-6 Cayuse, UH-1 Iroquois, AH-1 Cobra, MH-60 Black Hawk, MH-47 Chinook, and AH-64 Apache helicopters.

Barricades surround a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on display on the National Mall for weekend events marking the Army’s 250th anniversary near the Smithsonian Castle in Washington on June 11, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Road Damage Concerns

Some of the vehicles appearing in the parade can weigh up to 80 tons, raising concerns that they could damage streets along the parade route.

One of the primary measures to limit potential damage to the streets is the placement of steel plates at turning points in the route.

Sztalkoper said rubber pads placed along the tracks of tanks and other tracked vehicles will add another layer of road protection. These vehicles will also move at no more than three miles per hour and will move in a staggered formation to further reduce the risk of road damage.

Since the White House announced the parade last month, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has repeatedly expressed her worries about the potential that tanks and other heavy military vehicles will damage the capital’s roads.

Despite the assurances, Bowser said at a May 29 press briefing, “I remain concerned about it, I have to tell you.”

While the Army has maintained that it can cover repairs should precautions fail, Bowser said the city will likely have to pay the up-front costs of damage to ensure quick repairs.

“These are, for the most part, local streets. And if they’re rendered unusable, we have to make them usable and then go seek our money from the feds,” she said.

U.S. Army soldiers work on M1A3 Abrams tanks, Stryker armored vehicles, and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles at West Potomac Park along the Potomac River for weekend events marking the Army’s 250th anniversary in Washington on June 11, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Schedule of Events

On the morning of June 14, the Army will hold a birthday wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

The National Mall will also host an Army fitness competition and festival at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Finally, the parade will kick off at 6:30 p.m. and conclude with a concert, a parachute demonstration by the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, and a fireworks display on the National Mall.

Blackhawk helicopters do a flyover at the end of the U.S. Army’s Twilight Tattoo event at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va., on June 11, 2025. The event features soldiers from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington’s ceremonial units. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The parade and festivities on the National Mall are free and open to the public, but the Army recommends that those planning to attend register ahead on its website. Registration will help attendees get through security more quickly, according to the Army. The parade can be viewed from the parade route or the Washington Monument grounds.