US President Donald Trump was impressed by the military parade he witnessed in France on Bastille Day last year. He wanted to have a similar one in Washington DC, and it will be held on November 10 to commemorate the end of World War I. The cost of conducting the event is estimated to be approximately $12 million.
CNN reports that when he canceled the regular military exercise with South Korea, Trump labeled it as "tremendously expensive." The proposed military parade will be an equally costly affair.
An official advised that the cost estimate is tentative and could change as the project takes shape.
Military exercise versus military parade
The US conducts regular military exercises with South Korea in order to keep the troops and equipment in shape. North Korea has always condemned such exercises as “provocative” and wanted these to end. During the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, Donald Trump took a decision to suspend these exercises. It was probably intended to send across a message to Kim about America’s sincerity. He went to the extent of terming the military exercises as too costly. After the meeting with Kim Jong-un, he tweeted - "we save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith - which both sides are!"
Pentagon spokesman Col.
Rob Manning noted that the military parade will coincide with the 100th anniversary of World War I. That happened on November 11, 1918, and President Emmanuel Macron of France also has plans to host world leaders for a parade to mark the occasion.
The last military parade was held 25 years back
ABC7 adds that the concept of a military parade is not new to the United States. However, the one proposed by Donald Trump will be the first one after a lapse of more than 25 years. The last one was the Desert Storm Victory Parade in 1991. It was a massive 2.5-mile parade in which 8,800 war veterans participated. More than 800,000 people turned out to watch it on June 8, 1991. The cost in those days was around $12 million.
The Trump parade was originally scheduled to be held on November 11 to coincide with the city's Veterans Day parade but was set back a day to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. The parade will feature period uniforms and there will be aircraft but no tanks which might damage the roads and local infrastructure. The parade will highlight the contributions made by the veterans right from the Revolutionary War untl today.