March 9 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s requested military parade will likely take place on Veterans Day and stretch between the U.S. Capitol and the White House, a Pentagon memo from this week shows.
The memo, dated Thursday, indicated “a list of planning considerations” from Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Some of those considerations included preventing the parade, which will likely integrate with Washington, D.C.,’s holiday parade, from featuring tanks and noting that it should include “a heavy air component … to include older aircraft as available.”
“This parade will focus on the contributions of our Veterans throughout the history of the U.S. Military, starting from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 to today, with an emphasis on the price of freedom,” Capt. Hallock Mohler wrote in the memo.
The memo also noted that the parade should honor veterans service organizations, including the Medal of Honor Association, and “highlight the evolution of women” in the military.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told Congress last month that the parade could cost taxpayers up to $30 million. Trump has sought a military-style parade since attending a Bastille Day parade in Paris with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron.
“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen. It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France,” Trump said in September. “We’re going to have to try to top it.”
