Armed Forces Day
2025
This year Armed Forces Day is taking place on Saturday 28th June. Last year a number of local groups used the resources (see below) we developed with the Peace Pledge Union at events to present an alternative perspective and counter the most celebratory and uncritical aspects of this day.
We’ve had a three-fold inccrease in the number of groups who have told us they will be challenging the militarism of Armed Forces Day – with demonstrations, vigils, stalls and flyering planned in over fifty locations this year.
Armed Forces Day events around the UK are listed here and many are described as ‘family fun’ days. These often include recruitment activities and stalls where children are encouraged to handle real weapons, while the devastating effects of these weapons is ignored. With the 80th anniversary of VE Day this year, expect plenty of nostalgic 1940s-themed events presenting an uncritical portrayal of warfare.
If you would you like some free postcards and stickers, please contact PPU (including your address) who can also advise on organising an event.
Armed Forces Day press release (28 June 2025) from ForcesWatch and Peace Pledge Union: Record number of protests against Armed Forces Day across the UK
2024
There is no national event for Armed Forces Day this year – it doesn’t look like any council wanted to take it on, or had the resources to. See the response to our Freedom of Information request to the MoD.
But there are many local events around the UK – you can see the full list here. Most events will be held on the weekend of the 29th and 30th June but some are held a week before or after. There has been a drop in the number of local events from 316 in the peak year of 2019 to 189 this year, perhaps as councils are less willing to put resources in to it and realise it is a divisive issue in the community.
We’ve heard from a number of groups around the country – including in Leicester, Portsmouth, Leeds, Weymouth, Aldershot, Cambridge and Irvine – that they will be resisting the militaristic message of these events.
In previous years, the national event has cost councils hundreds of thousands of pounds to run. This year the Ministry of Defence is spending over £420k on local Armed Forces Day events with some councils having to find significant additional funding.
Many of the Armed Forces Day events around the country are marketed as ‘family fun’ days and/or have displays of weapons and military vehicles on armed forces recruitment stands. Young people, including small children, are encouraged to handle the weapons or play on the vehicles. You can see photos of primary schools children in a tank and fighter jet, and displays of weapons, at the national Armed Forces Day ‘youth day’ in Falmouth last year.
Armed Forces Day press release (29 June 2024) from ForcesWatch and Peace Pledge Union: Declining interest in Armed Forces Day welcomed by peace campaigners
Eleven images of the Armed Forces Day event in Leeds on 29 June 2024. Photos: ForcesWatch.
Video: Is anti-militarism unpatriotic?
Delving deeper into Armed Forces Day, we examine the incentives behind these events. Where did Armed Forces Day come from and what is it trying to achieve.
2023
Our analysis of the national event in Falmouth in 2023: militarism comes to Cornwall
Five images of Youth Day in the Armed Forces Day Military Village in Falmouth, Cornwall, Friday 23 June 2023: groups of primary school children line up to sit in a fighter jet and tank. Some were seen with the anti-tank weapon (on the left side of the table) on their shoulder. Photos: ForcesWatch.
More of our articles about Armed Forces Day
Read Peace Pledge Union’s page on What’s wrong with Armed Forces Day
Resources
We have teamed up with the Peace Pledge Union to make resources available for raising these and other issues at local Armed Forces Day events. If you would like to order postcards and/or stickers, email mail@ppu.org.uk as soon as possible.
Download poster
Stickers
Podcasts and other resources
What’s wrong with Armed Forces Day (2020) with Symon Hill of The Peace Pledge Union, and Unpacking Armed Forces Day with Dr Ross McGarry (2022).
Produced by ForcesWatch and Quaker Peace & Social Witness, this website and resource pack provides an introduction to current expressions of militarism and ideas for challenging it in local communities.
Our Kids with Guns resource questions whether the armed forces encourage young people to interact with weapons and military vehicles? We explore why this is happening and how can it be challenged?
This booklet produced by Quakers in Britain provides resources and advice for challenging military activities within schools.
See
See more: military in society, recruitment, Armed Forces Day
