Welcome to the 105th

San Jose Veterans Day Parade

Saturday, November 11, 2023 in Downtown San Jose

UVCSCC Celebrating over 100 Years!

UVCSCC Celebrating over 100 Years!

A Legacy of Respect

Each year, since 1918, the United Veterans Council of Santa Clara County has produced a Veterans Day Parade with support from the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County, and contributions from many individuals and organizations.

This parade, the largest Veterans Day Parade in Northern California, honors all who served or are currently serving their country.

A huge thank you to CreaTV San Jose!

Grand Marshal

Doug Beck, Director

Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
U.S. Department of Defense

Doug Beck is the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense. In this role, Doug oversees efforts to accelerate the Department's adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and also serves as a senior advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on technology innovation, competition, and strategic impact. In his previous experience with DIU, Doug founded and led its joint reserve component from the inception in 2015 through 2019.

Prior to joining DIU, Doug was Vice President at Apple, reporting directly to its CEO, Tim Cook from 2009-2023, At Apple, Doug co-led the worldwide business development and sales functions, led the company’s businesses across Northeast Asia and the Americas, including five years resident in Tokyo, and, most recently, led several of Apple’s purpose-driven businesses worldwide, including in health, education, and other institutions of public impact.

Before joining Apple, Doug served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Charles Schwab. Prior to Schwab, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company, co-leader of McKinsey's global strategy practice, and a leader of other industry and functional practices in the United States and Asia. In 2000, he was elected as one of the youngest partners in McKinsey history, while resident in Shanghai. He has lived and worked for many years in Asia, including in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and across China.

Currently a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Doug served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006-2007 with a joint special operations task force. He has also served extensively throughout the Asia Pacific region during his 26 years of service, including command of a large joint reserve unit supporting U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, His personal and unit awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), the Bronze Star Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Presidential Unit Citation.

As a civilian, Doug has served as a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, an executive advisor to three Chiefs of Naval Operations and to Special Operations Community leadership, and, for over fifteen years, as a formal and informal advisor to senior civilian and uniformed Defense Department leaders. He also served from 2015-2023 as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security. He is a Trustee of the Rhodes Trust, which oversees the Rhodes Scholarships worldwide, and a member of the Advisory Board of Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Doug holds a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Yale and an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Parade Emcees

  • Since 1996, Damian Trujillo has been a NBC Bay Area News reporter, host and producer of “Comunidad Del Valle,” the longest running public affairs program in the Bay Area. Comunidad Del Valle now also airs in Spanish on Telemundo 48.

    Damian is a recipient of the prestigious Emmy Award. He has also been honored with awards from the Associated Press, the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Damian was named "2004 Reporter of the Year" by the Associated Press Television and Radio Association for California and Nevada.

    Damian grew up in Greenfield, about 2 hours south of San Francisco on Highway 101. While in high school, Damian worked in the agricultural fields of the Salinas Valley, with his family, to help make ends meet. He picked garlic, broccoli, cucumbers, and strawberries.

    As a former farm worker, Damian now honors his first job, on the Cesar Chavez Holiday. Every March 31, Damian’s family hosts family, friends, and students. They make sack lunches at the Trujillo home and distribute them to roughly 250 farm workers in the South Bay. The gesture is a “thank you” to farm workers, for their tireless work. In addition, each year, the Trujillo family awards a college scholarship to the son or daughter of a farm worker in Greenfield.

    In 2012, Carolyn Brown, professor at American University in Washington D.C., produced a half-hour documentary on the life of Damian Trujillo titled “From the Fields: An American Journey”. Damian screened the film at Stanford, Georgetown, and Harvard Universities, and at The National Steinbeck Center. In April 2013, the South Bay U.S. Congressional Delegation invited Damian for a special screening on Capitol Hill.

    Damian and his wife Monica have a daughter, Malyna, and twins Isela and Michael Damian.

  • Raised in San Jose, Lissa was fortunate to begin and end a 40-year morning radio career in her hometown. The first ten years at KLOK-1170 and then 30 years at KBAY-FM. In 2015, she was honored to be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. She now has a show on KCAT-TV in Los Gatos called Community Storytelling. Always a lover of the community and Non-Profits, Lissa remains active as an Emcee and volunteer. But her favorite title is that of Grandma to four fabulous children, ages 6 months to 7 years.

  • Sal Pizarro writes the Around Town column for the San Jose Mercury News, covering the valley's interesting people, places and events. He is also president of the Rotary Club of San Jose for 2022-23.

Plan your day

  • Enter the Parade

    Be part of this this, the largest Veterans Day Parade in Northern California, which honors all who served or are currently serving their country.

    Parade Entry

  • Parking

    SAN JOSE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION

    Anticipated Attendance: 20,00
    Please plan accordingly

    View Parking Options

  • Parade Route

    The Parade Route is one mile:

    • Start at the intersection of Almaden Boulevard and Santa Clara Street

    • Proceeds east on Santa Clara Street

    • Turns right onto Market Street passing Plaza de Cesar Chavez

    • Ends at San Carlos Street

    View Parade Route

PARADE FAQ

  • The parade will start at 12:00 p.m. sharp. It steps off on Santa Clara Street at the 87-freeway overpass.

  • Portable restrooms are in the staging area, near the Demas Avenue parking lot and on Barack Obama Way near the SAP Center.  Along the parade route near the announcer stand at Santa Clara and Market Streets and the main announcer stand located at the corner of Park and Market Streets.

  • The Information center will be located at the corner of Delmas Avenue and Santa Clara Street.  Look for the blue canopy.  You can also locate any of the parade coordinators/volunteers for additional information.

  • If participants arrive in individual cars, parking is available in a variety of public parking lots in the downtown San Jose area or on side streets outside of the staging area. No parking is allowed in the staging area. Any cars left unattended in the parade staging area and are not in the parade are subject to being towed.

  • There is no shuttle service scheduled. It is recommended that participants carpool to the end of the parade and have a designated driver bring one vehicle back to the staging area.

  • The parade route is .9 miles long. It will take one- and one-half hours to pass. It will take participants approximately 20 minutes from start to finish.

  • The parade officially ends at the corner of San Carlos and Market Streets, close the San Jose Convention Center.