Royal Oak veterans groups say they'll boycott Memorial Day parade. Here's why

Memorial Day events usually bring all kinds of people together.

Not this year in Royal Oak. The city’s big veteran groups and their supporters said they’ll boycott Monday’s annual parade in the downtown. They’re unhappy with the new parade route, a temporary way around road repairs, saying it will create hardships for elderly veterans and those with disabilities.

The veteran groups said they’ll attend the traditional post-parade ceremony at the Royal Oak War Memorial, although they also have serious concerns there. They contend that the memorial’s new site — it was moved 70 feet east last year, over the objections of the veterans groups — will be too small to accommodate the usual crowd. They made the same argument last year when they tried to block the move with an unsuccessful ballot proposal.

City officials have said for months that pavement work on Main Street required moving the parade to a temporary, shorter route. This week, officials said they’re doing all they can to assist any veteran who wants to participate, and they insisted that the new site for the war memorial will accept at least as big a crowd as the old site did in years past.

Officials also said they’re disappointed that critics have ignored the new features added to this year’s Memorial Day ceremonies, including Friday's placement in Royal Oak's new downtown Centennial Park of 188 flags — one for each city resident who made the ultimate sacrifice in military service.

Tom Roth, commander of Royal Oak’s American Legion Post 253, pulled his members out of the parade with an email this week, complaining bitterly that city leaders "dictated a horrible parade route without seeking input from veterans organizations or the many disabled and elderly veterans who usually participate.”

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On the new route, veterans including those with disabilities “would have to climb off floats and vehicles, then climb into a shuttle bus or walk to the Memorial” from the new end of the parade route, Roth's email said. The distance to the war memorial from the end of the parade will be several blocks, which is “substantial for a disabled veteran or an 80-year-old,” Roth said. Once at the war memorial, “they will be faced with the prospect of not being able to sit in front of the Memorial like they used to,” because the site is smaller, he said, although city officials disagree.

To make getting to the war memorial safer, the city planned to close the area of Troy Street adjoining the war memorial’s new location. There had been talk that folding chairs would be placed in the street, which wouldn’t afford much of a view, said Carol Hennessey, the longtime president of the Royal Oak Memorial Society, which oversees the care of veterans’ graves in the city.

“You can’t see the monument from the street because they have trees in the way,” Hennessey said. She and her organization were in charge of the Memorial Day parade for many years, but she was relieved of her duties by the city several years ago. She said her Memorial Society members likewise would boycott this year’s parade.

Royal Oak City Manager Paul Brake said the city ruled out the veterans’ suggestions for lengthening the temporary parade route.

“What we’re trying to avoid is the potential for cars or floats getting stuck on the train tracks,” Brake said. The parade steps off at 9 a.m. Monday on South Washington at Lincoln, goes north four blocks, and ends at Fourth Street. Last year, the route continued one more block north to Third Street, then turned east for an additional block before dispersing.

“There was actually a lot of careful thought put into this by our Veterans Events committee.

The reconstruction of Main Street and its sidewalks will be finished in July, and the traditional parade route will be back next year, Brake said. He said a shuttle bus and volunteers with cars were poised to take any veteran from the end of the parade to the war memorial. He added that he was disappointed by dissension in the community overshadowing events aimed at honoring Americans who gave their lives in military service.

Immediately after Royal Oak's annual parades, usually around 10 a.m., the city holds a wreath-laying ceremony at the Royal Oak War Memorial, located just south of the library, which is on the southwest corner of 11 Mile Road and Troy Street. Moving the memorial last year to its new site, about 70 feet east of its former location, has long been a flashpoint for debate. The topic became politicized in 2021 when Roth ran for mayor, along with a slate of others seeking seats on the Royal Oak City Commission. All were strongly opposed to the monument's move, and all were defeated.

Although Roth and others disagree, city officials insist that there will be space for just as large a crowd at the new site of the war memorial. In years past, the event organizers typically set up 100 chairs in front of the war memorial, and this year they’ll place 120, Royal Oak Community Engagement Specialist Judy Davids said.

Contrary to rumor, “No, we aren’t putting any chairs in Troy Street,” Davids said. The street will be closed on the block adjacent to the war memorial to foster safety as visitors walk across Troy Street to reach the war memorial, she said. About 300 people attended the ceremony last year, “and we can absolutely accommodate that many this year,” she said. Those who stand “may be standing closer together, but it’s still going to be the same number of people,” she said. The memorial’s new site is more accessible to those in wheelchairs or anyone who has difficulty walking, Davids added.

Davids said she and members of the Royal Oak Veterans Events Committee had “spent all year” planning new features for Memorial Day, including the placing on Friday of 188 American flags near the war memorial — one each for 187 men from the city who died in military service, and one more for the lone woman from Royal Oak who gave her life. On Sunday, a troop of Boy Scouts “will tag each flag” with information about the deceased veteran it represents, and that night the scouts will pitch a tent in the park and maintain a nightlong vigil near the flags, Davids said.

On Monday, at about 11 a.m. — after the service at the war memorial is over — volunteers will conduct tours of the flag display, directing visitors to find flags of the military members who once lived near them or with whom they have some other connection.

“We think all of this is going to be amazing and we really hope people will come out to see it,” Davids said.

Contact Bill Laitn: blaitner@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Royal Oak veterans groups say they'll boycott Memorial Day parade