Sanford, NC — Steve Bowles wore his black Vietnam Veterans hat to his first-ever protest on Saturday, October 18.
At 80 years old, his white hair shining bold against the vibrant blue sky, Bowles stood on the corner of Horner Boulevard and Main Street in Sanford, one of more than 400 demonstrators at the second "No Kings" anti-Trump protest in Lee County.
"I didn't fight for this; I fought for democracy," he said. "And it looks like we're losing it.” Bowles glanced at his family, who held their own signs and chanted with the crowd. “I bled for this country, and I don't want to see it destroyed."
A growing coalition of veterans, service members, and their families gathered on the four corners of the busy Sanford intersection, where temperatures climbed to 80 degrees.
They opposed what they described as President Donald Trump and his administration's authoritarian overreach, alongside seven million other protestors in more than 2,700 cities nationwide for the second iteration of the ‘No Kings’ protest movement.
Thomas Dunlap protests with two of his children, and Steve Bowles, his grandfather-in-law, who is holding the sign, ‘No “Kings” This is a democracy’ on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. Credit: Diara J. Townes
Their presence marked a notable shift in Lee County, a conservative stronghold in central North Carolina where political dissent has traditionally been whispered rather than shouted.