Nation Pays Respect on Veterans Day

Communities across the nation on Monday recognized the men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces. A ceremony for San Jose’s 95th annual Veterans Day parade was held near the SAP Center, and hours earlier the Veterans Day National Ceremony commenced at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs launched an online forum for the public to express gratitude to those who have served in the military. People can contribute their thoughts on Thunderclap. The hashtag #HonoringVets is also being used on Facebook and Twitter.

Also in honor of Veteran’s Day, a former Hewlett-Packard engineer who amassed the country’s largest collection of military vehicles announced that he’ll donate some of them to an East Coast museum. Jacques Littlefield signed over the 240-piece collection of tanks, armored vehicles and missile launchers to the Collings Foundation. Until today, the $30 million fleet was housed in several storage sheds by Littlefield’s South Bay home.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Preeti Upadhyaya wrote an article Monday morning that looked at how local tech companies could be doing more to give young veterans a shot at landing jobs.

“Tech companies have all these veterans initiatives,” former U.S. Army Officer Mark Green told the Biz Journal. “But often, they’re just sound bites and spin.”

After several failed attempts to land a job in tech, Green was hired as a project manager at Cisco. But he believes that the region’s major companies should form some sort of collaborative effort aimed at helping military men and women transition to civilian life. It’s tough for a lot of veterans to relate their military experience to the professional world, he said.

Jennifer Wadsworth is the former news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley. Follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

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