PHOTO CREDIT – LISA LAKE, GETTY IMAGES
By Gerry Condon, World BEYOND War, July 7, 2026
In the largest veterans’ protest since the Vietnam era, 500 veterans, active-duty “service” members, and military family members gathered in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July and marched against ICE, the occupation of U.S. cities by the National Guard, the war on Iran, and threats to deploy troops at polling sites in November.
Undeterred by 101-degree heat that forced the cancellation of the official Philadelphia parade, the coalition — About Face, 50501 Vets, Veterans For Peace, Common Defense, Military Families Speak Out, Fayetteville Resistance Coalition, and Center on Conscience and War marched under the banner “Veterans Against Fascism.”
“We cannot continue the next 250 years as we have the last 250,” proclaimed About Face Organizing Director Rebecca Roberts, a 12-year veteran of the New Jersey National Guard who resigned her commission in protest of U.S. foreign policy.
“Our neighbors are being kidnapped by ICE and put into concentration camps, VA, Medicaid and SNAP — vital services — are being cut to instead fund war crimes abroad, and for troops to occupy cities like DC, Memphis, and New Orleans,” said Roberts.
“So who is with me?” asked Roberts, as she led attendees in a call-and-response, asking marchers to raise their fists if they demand:
- No Troops and No ICE in the streets or at the ballot box
- A End to Endless Wars and War Crimes
- Divestment from War and Funding Communities at Home.
Roberts noted the march returned to the same ground where veterans and military families gathered 50 years ago, led by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, to demand a country that took care of them as they suffered and healed from the wounds of war.
The Veterans Against Fascism coalition was the front contingent of the larger Peoples’ Parade, comprised of local Philadelphia groups and national groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council, Juntos and No ICE Philly. Over a thousand people marched on July 4th in what the Peoples’ Parade called “an act of decisive opposition to the current state of American politics and material conditions, including mass deportation, forced displacement, climate crisis, and international war.”
Michael McPhearson, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace, invoked the Declaration of Independence signed 250 years ago in the same city.
“On this anniversary, hundreds of veterans and military families have come to sound an alarm for democracy, as our national leaders ignore these basic truths, trample our rights, and treat us as subjects of the billionaire class, not as self-governing equals”
McPhearson reminded service members of “your duty to refuse illegal orders” and called on the public “to honor our service not with ‘thank-yous’ but by organizing and acting to protect our elections and stop fascism.”
Among the marchers were at least a dozen currently-serving members of the U.S. military, part of the Service Members’ Anti-War Contingent. Cam White of the Center on Conscience and War, marching alongside active-duty members of the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy, said:
“There are more active duty troops at this protest than there have been in generations, because people in uniform today are waking up. Many service members are facing the greatest crisis of conscience that they have ever dealt with in their lives.”
White reminded attendees that “service members do not take an oath to a President or a government; they take an oath to the Constitution. Troops have a duty to disobey unlawful orders.”
Maxine Rebeles, a Navy veteran and member of About Face and Common Defense, tied the march to her work with the No Border Wall Coalition and Frontera Federation in her hometown of Laredo, Texas, describing efforts to stop a border wall and river buoy obstructions that endanger riverfront communities’ only water source.
“We’re watching militarized law enforcement like ICE and Border Patrol harass, intimidate, and outright murder people who were standing up for their neighbors. This is an alarm bell for the country. And we don’t intend to be quiet about it.”
“The future does not belong to billionaires, it does not belong to bulldozers, and it does not belong to fear,” she said. “It belongs to our children, it belongs to our communities, and it belongs to us.”
Johnny Odom, a retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class, combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and member of Military Families Speak Out, spoke as the father of a service member currently deployed to Jordan since the start of the war with Iran.
“Today I stand here before all of you as a father… to denounce this illegal and unjustified war against the people of Iran and the mis-utilization of American forces without Congressional approval and, most important, the people’s approval,” said Odom.
“In my multiple deployments, I honestly can’t tell you why we were in Iraq or Afghanistan or what we achieved other than violence and trauma. Now my son is repeating the cycle in Jordan, and it tears me up inside to think he is in harm’s way for no good reason.”
Odom called on veterans and military families to help “restore the standards and traditions that make this country truly unique,” warning:
“We are at a crossroads. We can choose to build and fight for the country that we all deserve, or we can let a wealthy few steer us down a path of ruin.”
Another participant, Savanna Rostad of Milwaukee, was full of praise for the marchers:
“A key word I would use to define the July 4th Veterans Against Fascism march in Philadelphia is ‘care.’ From the medic team who worked tirelessly in the heat to distribute water to the crowd, to the leaders who centered our collective voice around a message of unity and hope, everyone demonstrated care for each other and for our collective future. Witnessing this community in action redefined what nationhood means to me. I now feel a sense of meaning and belonging.”
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