Mountain View, California based tech giant, Google uses technology to bring the New York City Veterans Day 2015 Parade to the veterans who could not attend the event, or those who cannot travel. Veterans Day is celebrated in the U.S. on Nov. 11.
Veteran and VetNet Member James Reid, who retired from the military in 2012, posted on Google's official blog his taking part in bringing to the veterans their first virtual reality experience.
They filmed the NYC Veterans Parade on Thursday morning with a 360-degree video and brought the experience through a Google Cardboard to the veterans and their families at VA hospitals like those in Palto Alto, California, as well as in Oklahoma and Pryor.
In the next few days, the events of the #UnitedWeMarch will continue at VA hospitals around the country.
Reid stated, "it was incredible to reconnect with other veterans and even better to see their reactions to the virtual parade. One Marine who served in Vietnam even remarked, 'You just took me away from this hospital room to New York. And you didn't even charge me airfare!'"
Google is supporting the Veterans Day 2015, or the #UnitedWeMarch, as part of its Impact Challenge: Disabilities. It has given $20-M in grants, which it usually does to organizations that aim to improve the lives of disabled people.
Google.org likewise gave $235k grant to America Makes for the creation of military veterans training so they learn the fundamentals of using new technologies in order to come up with personalized assistive devices like the 3D-printed prosthetic limbs.
The Internet titan is working with the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation in this regard.
Reid expressed his gratefulness to be part of the Google's Veterans Day 2015 event and seeing the veterans virtually escape from their hospital beds to feel the crowds cheering the parade.
Meanwhile, netizens got mixed emotions with Google's doodle for the Veterans Day 2015 celebration which depicted people of various colors and races. They observed the other races outnumbered the whites. The critics said it was a misplacement of the celebration of diversity, reported RT.
