On Friday morning, Luxembourg's national day actiities included a very pulic open-air parade down the Avenue de la Liberté in Luxembourg city centre; this followed the formal celeration at the Philharmonie earlier in the day, plus the previous evening's eve-of-the-national-day festivities across the Grand Duchy, in particular the torchlit parade and fireworks display of the Pont Adolphe.

Luxembourg’s military parade happens every year on the National Holiday, also considered the Grand Duke's official birthday, on 23 June, and has happened every year since 1961. Because most teenagers and young adults celebrate long into the night of the eve of the holiday, those who often come to these events are predominately the elderly, families and journalists.

That ceremony started at 10é00 and wrapped up near 11:30, giving few a chance to travel down to Avenue de la Liberté ahead of time, the wide road that goes over the newly reconstructed Pont Adolphe and heads off towards Luxembourg-are. After a long, and particularly hectic, night, especially for parents with young children, the atmosphere was much quieter as the timing of the beginning of the parade grew nearer and passed. Thankfully, the weather had picked up a bit of cloud cover and a light breeze, a pleasant change from the sweltering, arid heat of the bright, beating sun over Luxembourg for the past few weeks.

The parade itself was slow to get started, but it allowed the crowds to file in and get settled. The soldiers and police officers stood tall, still and silent parallel to the classical building which recently was ought from ArcelorMittal by the BCEE, where the royal family, VIPs, official delegates and politicians, were positioned. Murmuring began amongst the crowd as the minutes went along slowly, now well past the scheduled times. A smattering of police officers and soldiers lingered near cars and walked up and down the streets. Some talked to each other, but often they kept a straight face and inspected every face that passed with steel eyes. This is not an uncommon thing to see, especially for large events with such large crowds, but that aprehension was in the eyes and heart of every adult. With every minute that passed, the atmosphere crackled with growing tension.

And then. Four city buses making their way down the road. What could this be? Just as the crowd caught a glimpse of the words on the buses, a wave of confusion befell it, followed by bemusion. The buses passed by, and to everyone’s surprise, all the delegates, politicians and those honoured in the ceremony were aboard. It was an odd sight, seeing these VIPs on everyday buses like the average Luxembourgish worker. It was a humanising moment that relieved the crowd and let everyone settle down for the parade.

The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess arrived a little later, and participated the final ceremonies including an inspection of the troops by General Romain Mancinelli, the head of the army, Philippe Schrantz, CEO of the Grand Ducal Police, Étienne Schneider, Luxemourg's Minister of Defence, and the Grand Duke himself, before joining the other dignataries. The soldiers and police offficers started off in marching formation towards the Pont Adolphe to join the rest of the procession. They were shortly followed by a band, with large porcelain sousaphones and golden french horns. The band played one final song for the Grand Duke and the parade began.

It started with the Luxembourg army and it was the the moment many young children seemed to have been waiting for, as they eagerly jumped up to see better as they gripped the metal gates. First came an army jeep with a stout soldier standing out of the roof, in a firm salute, his gaze fixed on the Grand Duke. Following these were two massive modern tanks with mounted machine guns, striking even the adults with a humbling sense of awe and wonder, a testament to the strength of Luxembourg, a reminder of the work of this country’s soldiers and their sacrifices, a silent promise to never surrender under fear. From there, many utilitarian military vehicles followed, including massive trucks for transporting water and supplies, jeeps for troops and ambulances, all painted with in iconic military green.

For a second, it seemed that the sky had split asunder over the crowd’s head. A loud roar echoed through the narrow streets and a lucky few caught a glimpse of it as it passed for the first time overhead. But when it came round the second time, it was a sight to be seen. This specimen was an AWACS, a large Boeing airplane with a radar dome attached over its fuselage that acts as a hub to receive and send along messages and radar information. It seemed almost ridiculous at the time to many who were bewildered by its humorous outline.

Following them were the police, a fleet of motorcycles spearheading their formation. Next was a procession of police cars of all forms, including with a boat trailing behind it showcasing the national marine guard. When a group of police officers on bicycles passed by there was a stifle of laughs, but it was inspirationally followed by a wave of claps and shouts of encouragement. It was not only the Luxembourgish Police on display, many delegates from other countries were here to celebrate and brought some of their own police force and vehicles. German police cars and motorcycles with their yellow stripes, the French and even the Italians, who inspired a riotous laugh when their police Lamborghini rolled on past. A highlight of the parade were the canine divisions, which brought out a collective reaction of adoration.

The police were followed by the customs officers and then the firefighters, whose iconic red trucks caught the attention of all. At the end of the firefighter procession were two older vehicles with nostalgic designs and retired firefighters delightfully driving their old trucks. The last to go was the Red Cross, whose legion of ambulances was closed with one last flight from the AWACS.

While the parade was ongoing the sun had peeked out from under the clouds and stolen the wind away, but no one noticed until the end of the parade. The parade was captivating in every sense of the word, and all those who left it, left it with a feeling of pride and refound honour and respect for the Grand Duchy. For many the celebrations would continue down in the Gare district, but most went home, looking forward to relaxing afternoon with their families. Children spoke ecstatically, describing their favourite police cars and talking about all the amazing soldiers they had seen, wearing little firefighter hats and waving their miniature flags high and proud. The air was alive with the sound of every language under the sun, a sea of Luxembourgish, German, French, English, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese, Arabic and many, many more. Every face that passed was bright and plastered with smiles, from the enthusiastic children and their parents begrudgingly following behind, from the elderly and the young couples. For this wonderful moment everything else was forgotten, all fears, all worries, all stress. For this powerful moment, pride was planted in the hearts of children and rekindled in the souls of adults.

For this fleeting moment was ingrained in the memories of all.

Photos by Alexander Spanos McGill