St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade Committee Unveils Celebrity Guests and Dignitaries

With only a few weeks left on the calendar before the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade hits Jefferson Avenue, parade organizers are releasing some of the event details.

Last week, the Parade Committee released some of its special celebrity guest announcements and revealed Veteran of the Year in Retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Three Eva Rodriguez and Grand Marshal in the role of Robert Haffner, who served in the army during World War II.

“We are delighted to honor Ms. Rodriguez as Veteran of the Year,” the parade committee said in a statement, adding, “We are honored to have Mr. Haffner as Grand Marshal.”

Now in its 70th year, the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 28. This year the route drops down Jefferson Avenue at Nine Mile Road and heads north to 11 Mile Road where it dissolves in front of City Hall.

Billed as the largest Memorial Day parade in the Midwest, the two-mile procession typically attracts up to 80,000 spectators, many of whom will be decked out in patriotic red-white-and-blue attire.

The parade typically includes over 150 military and veteran units, government officials, giant unicycles, a bell choir, clowns, high school marching bands, beauty queens, notable attractions, media personalities, musical performers and several star athletes and/or celebrities who bring a little sparkle to the event.

Some of the special guests include:

• Two actors from the hit 1985 film ‘Back to the Future’ – Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer Parker, Marty McFly’s girlfriend in the film, and Donald Fullilove, who played Hill Valley Mayor Goldie Wilson. Wells is due to attend a 6 p.m. meet on Saturday, May 27 at the Shores Inn Food & Spirits on Greater Mack Avenue near Nine Mile.
• And Donald Gibb, who is best known for his role as ‘Ogre’ in ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ as well as a character from HBO’s long-running ‘1st and Ten’ series, and other films will join the parade. . He will ride in a classic blue Mustang.

Rodriguez, the veteran of the year, served from 1981 to 2001. She enlisted as a field medic, then transitioned to a helicopter pilot warrant officer. She flew UH-1 Hueys and UH-60 Blackhawks.

During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, she flew 52 missions, logging 181 hours of combat/hazard flight time in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. She has also carried out missions in support of the Sinai Peacekeeping Force in Egypt, Israel and Jordan, as well as counter-narcotics and humanitarian relief missions in the Caribbean, Central America and Colombia. .

Of Native American ancestry, Rodriguez is also a Detroit native, a graduate of St. Florian High in Hamtramck and a member of VFW Bruce Post.

Haffner, the Grand Marshal, served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. During World War II, he was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, participating in the Normandy campaign in France, Operation Market Garden in the Pays Netherlands and the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, Luxembourg and Nazi Germany.

He is a longtime member of VFW Bruce Post and has participated in the parade several times.

For more parade updates and information, visit scsparade.org or facebook.com/scsmemorialdayparade