November 9, 2006

San Jose’s 88th annual Veterans’ Day Parade is largest in Northern California

Each year, since 1919, the United Veterans Council (UVC) has conducted an Armistice Day Ceremony and produced a Veterans’ Day Parade with support from the city of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara. This year’s 88th annual Veterans’ Day Parade, the largest in Northern California, honors all those who have served, and those continuing to serve their country.

World War I “Welcome Home Doughboys” Reenactors

The Grand Marshal for this year’s Parade is Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Kappeler. He was the navigator on B-25 bomber aircraft number eleven, the “Hari Carrier,” during Jimmy Doolittle’s April 1942 Raid on Tokyo as the first response to the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor that took place on Dec. 7, 1941.

The Welcome Home Doughboys World War I reenactment group will present the colors during the Opening Ceremony for the parade. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Plaza de Cesar Chavez on Market Street in downtown San Jose in remembrance of the 1918 Armistice of the “War to End All Wars.”

The parade starts at 12 noon on Delmas Street and travels east along Santa Clara Street to Market Street. The parade then proceeds south on Market, passing the reviewing stand at Park Street, opposite Plaza de Cesar Chavez, and ends at San Carlos Street.

Approximately 200 numbered units will march in the two-hour parade to honor veterans of all wars and pay tribute to military service personnel and their families.