19 Heartwarming Photos of US Service Members Returning Home

The 369th Infantry Regiment, a segregated Black combat unit during World War I, was excluded from the farewell parade in New York before heading overseas. The regiment was initially called the “Old Fifteenth” after its National Guard designation, but its members’ courageous battlefield efforts earned them the nickname, the “Harlem Hellfighters.” More than 1,400 Hellfighters were killed or wounded in battle, but some survivors are seen here celebrating as they return to New York City in 1919.

Nearly 5 million Americans served in World War I. Once the war ended, returning soldiers often arrived at East Coast ports before boarding trains to their hometowns. Here, World War I veterans receive a hero’s welcome at a train station, circa 1918 or 1919.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) saw right-wing military officers led by General Francisco Franco revolt against Spain’s democratically elected Republican government. Around 2,800 Americans volunteered to fight for the Spanish Republic, many serving in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion. More than a quarter of the American volunteers were killed during the war, and others were imprisoned. Here, a crowd awaits the arrival of 14 Americans who had recently been released from a prison run by Franco’s forces.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, incited the U.S. entrance to World War II. Here, in a full-circle moment, the 42nd Regiment arrives in Hawaii after the war, on July 2, 1946, to cheers and loved ones tossing them leis from the docks.

A photographer captures the moment when World War II Sergeant Edwin S. Williams meets his daughter, Patricia, for the first time, after returning home to Saint Louis from overseas on October 5, 1945. Williams had served in the Pacific theater starting in 1942. During wartime, many service members miss the births of their children and sometimes go years before meeting them.

The R.M.S. Queen Mary carried nearly 811,000 troops during World War II, often transporting between 10,000 to 15,000 at a time. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also traveled aboard the ship three times during the course of the war. Here, a cheering crowd greets World War II veterans returning home on the legendary ocean liner as it arrives in New York, circa 1945 or 1946. The ship could hit speeds of more than 30 knots.

Petty Officer Second Class Ernest Mosier reaches for his son, William, as he returns home on the USS Incredible in 1951. The ship was built as a minesweeper for World War II and later served during the Korean War.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean forces, backed by the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea. The United States sent combat troops to defend South Korea that July and had some 300,000 troops stationed there by the time an armistice ended the fighting in July 1953. Here, a group of women hold signs that spell out “Welcome Home” to greet Navy personnel returning to Philadelphia on December 7, 1953.

U.S. troops celebrate in front of the Statue of Liberty as they return home from the Korean War for Easter 1953. The Navy transport ship delivered 2,238 troops directly from Korea to New York City. After a brief quarantine, they were welcomed with an all-night party aboard their ship featuring Broadway stars.

A Marine is greeted by his family in San Diego on August 20, 1951 after returning home from deployment in Korea.

During the Vietnam War, 766 Americans were held as prisoners of war (POWs). Among them were United States Air Force Captain Michael S. Kerr, whose plane was shot down on January 16, 1967, during a reconnaissance mission. He was held captive for more than six years before being released on March 4, 1973, during Operation Homecoming. Four days later, he was reunited with his wife, Jerri, and their two children, Rick and Michele, after landing with 19 other POWs at the Travis Air Force Base in California.

What we now know as the V-shaped peace sign started out as a symbol of victory over fascism during World War II. During the Vietnam War, American hippies transformed it into a sign of peace; they wanted the conflict to end rather than be won. The war lasted nearly 20 years, from 1954 to 1975, as U.S. troops were gradually withdrawn and American sentiment at home turned against the war. Here, Marines flash peace signs and display a homemade peace sign over the side of their ship, the USS Bexar. The Marines were among the 25,000 troops President Richard Nixon ordered withdrawn from Vietnam in October 1969.

President Nixon implemented his strategy of Vietnamization in 1969 to begin to reduce the number of American troops in Vietnam. An incremental reduction in troops that started with 25,000 men saw more than 265,000 troops brought home by May 1971. Another 100,000 troops were scheduled to withdraw between May and December 1971. Here, U.S. troops returning from Vietnam disembark from a plane at McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, New Jersey, on August 20, 1971.

The USS New Jersey departed Long Beach, California, in June 1983 for what was supposed to be a three-and-a-half-month deployment. Instead, the ship ended up in Lebanon amid the country’s civil war, where it supported U.S. military operations. The crew spent were deployed for 322 days at sea and traveled over 76,000 miles. Finally, on May 5, 1984, the New Jersey returned home to a large crowd of eager family members waiting to greet their loved ones.

A Navy pilot kisses his wife in Virginia after serving in the Persian Gulf War. The war began on August 2, 1990, when Saddam Hussein ordered Iraq to invade Kuwait. U.S. President George H.W. Bush immediately condemned the attack and ordered a U.S. airstrike in January 1991 after Hussein ignored a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait. After 42 days, Bush and Hussein agreed to a cease-fire in February, bringing Operation Desert Storm to an end.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush launched the War on Terror, beginning with military operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and followed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Soldiers from the 1457th Engineer Battalion of the Utah National Guard were among the 1.5 million military members who served in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Here, friends and family members welcome the unit home on May 5, 2004, after a 14-month tour of duty.

In 2011, President Barack Obama announced plans to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan and transferring security responsibilities to Afghan military and police. Here, 2-year-old Reniah Krause embraces her father, Army Sergeant Joseph Krause, after his return from Afghanistan on June 15, 2011. That summer, 500-plus troops returned to Fort Carson, Colorado, after a year fighting in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province.

On March 21, 2015, 15-month-old Simren Shah shows off her sign welcoming her father, Army Captain Neel Shah, home. Shah and other members of the 101st Airborne Division returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after deployment to Liberia to help combat a deadly Ebola outbreak. Starting in 2014, the U.S. government deployed around 2,500 service members to help contain the outbreak. Troops supported Liberia’s government by helping establish treatment units, train health care workers and expand laboratory testing. During the deployment, no U.S. troops had known Ebola exposures or infections.

U.S. Navy sailor Lytzy Paisano embraces a loved one after disembarking from the USS Abraham Lincoln in Coronado, California. Sailors returned to the United States on October 8, 2026, after spending 321 days deployed and 265 consecutive days at sea—a U.S. Navy record. Around 5,000 service members served aboard the aircraft carrier during the nearly 11-month deployment supporting U.S. military operations during the conflict with Iran, including Operation Epic Fury. Upon their return, 64 fathers met their babies, born during the deployment, for the first time.