Millions of Americans took part in “No Kings” events Saturday, with more than 3,000 rallies and other events held across the country as the movement urged people to vote ahead of the midterm elections.
One of those rallies was held near Arlington National Cemetery and the site of President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot-tall arch in Virginia.
Standing with a group of what he called his brothers was Jay Kellner, president of the largest chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America in Virginia.
Kellner said the chapter’s board unanimously voted to oppose the proposed arch.
“When the president uses military justification for this arch, putting snipers and drones up there while tourists are going down this bridge and into the cemetery, it’s crazy,” Kellner said. “It’s a monstrosity.”
A recent National Park Service report backed President Donald Trump’s proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightline between a host of iconic landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
Nearby, 84-year-old Len Funk, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, said he didn’t think that the arch should be added to the cemetery.
“I believe there are nearly 400,000 service members buried right here behind us, and this man has blasphemed, blasphemed this holy ground with this ammo dump,” Funk said.
The arch isn’t just a concern for Army veterans.
Tom Brown served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and said Trump is building it “probably for his own vanity, not for the soldiers who currently reside here.”
A fellow Vietnam veteran, Bruce Waxman, was in the Army from May 1968 to April 1969.
“The most sacred cemetery for the military, Arlington National Cemetery,” Waxman said. “He’s basically attempting to usurp their honor. We call that stolen valor when someone basically tries to pawn themselves off as if he had served.”
Trump said that the arch would be between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery and would become a “top-grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.
Some Vietnam veterans WTOP spoke with expressed concern about changes at the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Richard Silverman served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970 after law school and said he believes there will be books written about the current secretary.
Silverman’s opinion is that, “It will be nothing that’s complimentary.”
One concern several veterans mentioned was the forced retirements of some of the military’s top leaders. Hegseth announced recently that the U.S. military will cut 20% of its generals and admirals. The Associated Press reported that when Hegseth first announced the effort to trim the highest levels of the military ranks, he argued it was intended to remove “redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.”
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Silverman said. “Look at what Secretary Hegseth has done to the U.S. military. It’s unconscionable. It has weakened us. It is not what America is all about.”
Bob Tecklenburg, a Marine who received a Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam, wore a hat his wife Becky bought him with the words “Purple Heart” written on it.
“I’m a little bit frightened. I mean, we’re losing our best leadership, military leadership,” Tecklenburg said.
Tecklenburg believes Hegseth should be impeached.
“He’s not doing the job the United States military expects him to do,” Tecklenburg said.
Right before the event began, Bernard Thompson, wearing a camouflage jacket and using a bright red, four-wheeled walker, made his way toward the rally with Arlington National Cemetery behind him.
Thompson went to Vietnam with the U.S. Army at the age of 21.
There are plenty of issues that brought these veterans to the rally, but for Thompson, it comes down to something more fundamental.
“We stand for democracy and the rule of law. The Constitution still matters to all of us,” Thompson said. “They don’t care at all about the Constitution. All they care about is raw power and making money.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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