Veterans Day parade begins in Downtown Pittsburgh on Thursday morning

One year after being drastically scaled back by the pandemic, the City of Pittsburgh’s annual Veterans Day parade is returning in full force Thursday morning.

Representatives of the six units of the U.S. military — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Space Force — will be taking part.

Liberty Avenue between 10th and 26th streets will close at 9 a.m.

The parade is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. and will march from 10th Street and Liberty Avenue, down Liberty Avenue before ending at Commonwealth Place.

Parking along the parade route and staging area on Liberty will be restricted.

This year’s parade marks the 102nd consecutive Veterans Day Parade in Pittsburgh. It is one of the nation’s oldest, according to one of the parade’s organizers, Jack Wagner, a former state auditor general and Vietnam veteran.

“The parade means a lot to me,” Wagner said. “I served with veterans who died in Vietnam. And when I think of veterans, I think of people who made the supreme sacrifice for our country.

“It does honor all veterans, the people who served our country, now and in the past, and are willing to put their life on the line any day of the year. Pennsylvanians have played a huge role in the defense of our country.”

Wagner said the parade is focusing on honoring Afghanistan veterans in particular, nearly two months since the end of America’s longest war.

There will be a military flyover by members of Pittsburgh’s 911th Airlift Wing, scheduled to occur at the exact time the armistice ending World War I happened — the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of November 1918.

At least 15 high school bands will take part in the parade. Brigadier Gen. Maureen Weigl, Pennsylvania’s deputy adjutant general of Veterans Affairs, is the grand marshal.