Veterans Day Parade Draws 100s of Thousands to Honor Military Service & the American Dream

Tens of thousands of marchers and hundreds of thousands more for the annual New York City Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11. The weather for the event was superb: sunny, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s, and little wind. While the low sun and tall buildings made viewing less than ideal in some spots along the route, which stretched from Madison Square to 5th Avenue and 45th Street, that was all the more reason to emulate the active-duty soldiers and sailors of today and mobilize!

For the hardcore parade aficionados, there pre-parade scene—like that of a football game tailgate party—can be nearly as interesting as the event itself. In the case of the Veteran’s Day Parade, the wandering reporter got to see marching bands and bagpipers warming up; many uniformed men and women waiting patiently, sipping coffee or other beverages, and taking photos among themselves. They’re having fun too!

Less enthused are some of the NYPD officers assigned to parade duty. While many cops clearly enjoy working parades and some are indifferent, there is a small number who are plainly impatient or lack people skills. The array of metal barriers around the VIP area wasn’t at all clear with regards to directions and seeing happy tourists gruffly told “you have to go around!” was unfortunate—go around where? To what block to get back to a viewing area on 5th Ave? The officer couldn’t say.

Such a variable levels of police comportment isn’t confined to the Veteran’s Day Parade. It’s pretty standard for every large event—sometimes understandably, when crowds are immense and disruptive protesters might be about, as has often been the case since the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023. Still, compared to the almost wholly jovial bearing of the military people present, it was unfortunate to see a few NYPD cops acting impatient with people who politely asked questions of them.

As for protests, there were none this reporter saw or heard of. With heavily armed NYPD Counterterrorism cops making a modest but notable show of force, nobody rushed the line of march and no pro-Palestine groups, peaceful or otherwise, set up on the route.

Though there was an anti-Veteran’s Day event at Columbia University this same day, none among the anti-patriots dared show themselves here. To the contrary, a float carrying Columbia University veterans was cheered as loudly as any other.

In a sense, it’s regrettable the protestors stayed away, including such protest actors from this past summer as “Migrants Fight Fossil Fuels” (with Citigroup their big target) or the beleaguered veterans of the “War on Cars,” furious over the pause on Congestion Pricing.

Had they come to the parade, which includes thousands of fossil fuel driven motorcycles, trikes, cars, vans and trucks driven by or carrying the people of all ages, ethnicities and military affiliations, they could have made their ire better known, and see, in return, all the diverse people united in their love of America, cars, and the freedoms each affords.

Speaking of freedom, it was a notable achievement—if upsetting to some—that Mayor Adams remained at liberty and appeared ebullient as ever.

We note this not to embarrass Hizzoner about his federal indictments—whatever his innocence or guilt may prove to be, the city needs upbeat leadership— but rather to acknowledge that it was almost exactly a year ago, in the days before the 2023 Veterans Day Parade, that Mayor Adams had his cell phone and iPad seized by the FBI.

For all his contagious glow, Hizzoner wasn’t first in the line of march. He was preceded by a rolling armada of motorcycles and tricycles, and then six NYPD mounted officers who were themselves trailed by three bucket-pushing Sanitation men ready to shovel up the manure of their equine brethren in civil service. The “can men” from DSNY were in good spirits and were cheered by the knowing crowd. A fleet of historic NYPD vehicles came next, including the beloved green and black Plymouth Fury of the early 1960s.

When Mayor Adams arrived with his cordon, he was generally cheered and unlike last year, this reporter heard no heckling. With Hizzoner, who wore an off-white Polo sweater and a blue Mayor Adams ball cap, was an unidentified Black US Marine in dress blues, and interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon in a blue police jacket. Also nearby were Office of Emergency Management boss Zach Iscol, himself a former Marine, and Department of Veterans Services Commissioner James Hendon.

At the front of the separate New York City Council cordon was Attorney General Letitia James and indefatigable Manhattan booster and parade goer, Gale Brewer.

Among the many highlights in the procession that followed were Ground Zero Volunteer carrying a large American flag; the County Cork Pipes and Drums; Ecuadorian War Veterans; all the troops from Joint Base McGuire–previously Fort Dix– Lakehurst in New Jersey, “The Nation’s Only Tri-Service Installation”; Korean-American Veterans; the Marine Band in dress red and white; a variety of historically-clad soldiers and sailors, including a Navy dog in a U.S.S. Olympia coat; Long Island Blue Star Moms; and the Haitian-American Veterans Association.

This year’s Grand Marshal was the 36-year-old Kentuckian, former Marine and Medal of Honor Dakota Meyer. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, it was in the latter country that Meyer’s valor during a September 9, 2009, battle near the village of Guraj earned this MOH nomination. Meyer received the medal for President Obama during a ceremony on September 15, 2011.