Overseas men welcomed home. Parade in honor of returned fighters passing the Public Library, New York City. On September 10, 1919, nearly a year after World War I ended, General John J. Pershing led a victory parade down New York City's Fifth Avenue. Vast crowds cheered as 25,000 U.S. soldiers who had served in the American Expeditionary Force's 1st Division on the Western Front marched from 107th Street to Washington Square in Greenwich Village, wearing trench helmets and full combat gear.