"Homecoming of Heroes" Ticker Tape Parade

On July 6, 2026, the City of New York will host Homecoming of Heroes: A Ticker Tape Parade Honoring our Post-9/11 Combat Veterans, First Responders and their Families. It will be a historic tribute recognizing the extraordinary service, sacrifice, and resilience of a generation that bore the weight of America’s longest war.

This celebration will be the first time New York City, and this nation, formally recognize veterans of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) with a parade down the famed Canyon of Heroes. The event comes at a powerful moment in national and international history—on the heels of the 250th birthdays of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, the 400th birthday of New York City, and the return of the International Naval Review 250, bringing allied fleets from around the world to New York Harbor in a rare show of global maritime unity and respect.

The Homecoming of Heroes parade will also include members of the FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority Police Department, whose service on and after September 11, 2001, is inextricably tied to the legacy of the Post-9/11 generation.

We’re honoring the very Veterans who made America’s 250^th birthday possible, two days after we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

If you are interested in sponsoring the Homecoming of Heroes ticker tape parade, please visit the Mayor’s Fund website by clicking HERE. 

Global War on Terror (GWOT)
By the Numbers

Service and Deployment

• 2.9 Million U.S. Service Members served since 2001
• 1.9 Million deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan
• 3 Million+ tours of duty over 30 days

Casualties and Sacrifice

• 7,064 Killed in action
• 53,436 Wounded in action
• 6 Missing in Action (MIA)

After the War

• 31,177 Post-9/11 Veteran suicides (as of May 2021)
• 36% of Post-9/11 Veterans experience PTSD
• 520,000+ cancer diagnoses among Post-9/11 Veterans