The United States Army held a 250th-anniversary parade on June 14, 2025, as a soft launch of America250 celebrations.
The date marked the Army’s founding by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence. The anniversary event included a military parade, a festival, a concert, and fireworks in and around Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia.
The celebration honored the modern United States Army, whose institutional history traces back to the Continental Army created during the American Revolutionary War. This can cause a common mix-up: the Continental Army was the revolutionary-era force, while the United States Army is its continuing successor.
The parade was connected to America250 but did not mark the United States’ 250th anniversary itself. America250 commemorated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, while the Army event recognized the service’s own founding anniversary one year earlier.