MANHATTAN — Hundreds of thousands of people will celebrate the city’s Veterans Day Parade Friday — including Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. — with a march through Midtown in honor of military servicemen and women past and present.
The annual event, the country’s largest and oldest, will march up Fifth Avenue from 26th to 56th street, after an initial ceremony in Madison Square Park starting at 10 a.m.
This year’s parade will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War, and the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation, according to the United War Veterans Council.
Gooding Jr., star of the forthcoming film “Red Tails” about the Tuskegee Airmen, will ride on a float with veterans of the African American pilot unit that fought in World War II, according to the council.
Other participants include Medal of Honor recipients Dakota Meyer of the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army veterans Paul W. Bucha and Bruce P. Crandall, and CIA director and retired Army General David Petraeus.
Tens of thousands of marchers, including 27 active units from all branches of the military, veterans groups and marching bands from around the country, will also walk the parade route Friday, the Council said.
The parade kicks off at Madison Square Park’s Eternal Light Monument at 10 a.m., with musical performances, a wreath-laying ceremony, 21-rifle salute and the playing of “Taps.” The parade then departs from the park at 11:11 a.m. and will reach Fifth Avenue at 26th street around 11:30 a.m.
