Second Annual ‘Salute to Service’ Adds Very Focused Attention on the Ultimate Sacrifice Given and Endured by Americans

The second annual “Salute to Service” Memorial Day weekend event was held Saturday, May 24, 2025, starting at 1 p.m. at the Gazebo-anchored Village Commons Park area at the intersection of East Main and Chester Streets in historic downtown Front Royal, Virginia. Event co-organizer and sponsor “Skip” Rogers, a U.S. Army veteran and president of the locally based Able Forces Foundation “Crisis Support For Military and Veteran Families,” hosted the event.

As Rogers has explained, the afternoon to early evening event has speakers, live music, and vendors, many of those featuring veterans, veteran ownership, and talent. “Salute to Service” day is designed to educate younger patrons and remind the rest of us of the true intent and meaning of Memorial Day’s focus on the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life, and that sacrifice’s lifelong impact on family members, given and endured in defense of maintaining a democratically based society and system of government upon which this nation, among others in the world, were founded upon or developed into.

Able Forces Foundation principal ‘Skip’ Rogers opens ‘Salute to Service’ event at Gazebo. Below, a closer look at event signage and then Society of the American Revolution (SAR) members march in to present the colors to officially open the event. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

Such focus is increasingly important in an age when threats to democratically based nations come, not only from totalitarian-based expansionism, but also from anti-democratic institutions evolved within those democratically based nations under various guises.

As he prepped for his Saturday duties hosting both the 11 a.m. Dogs of War Garden ceremony at the Humane Society of Warren County’s Julia Wagner Animal Shelter grounds and prepping for the 1 p.m. launch of “Salute to Service” Royal Examiner asked Rogers for some background on both events.

“That starts at 1 p.m., it’s our second annual, it’s all coming together now,” Rogers said in response to our request for verification of a starting time for “Salute to Service” in the wake of the 11 a.m. kickoff of the Dogs of War Garden event, adding, “We’ll have a day of remembrance and recognition. We have a community event, we have music, a lot of vendors. There’s 25, maybe even 30 vendors this year. Last year we had five,” Rogers pointed out of learning as you go with new event planning.

“I think it’s going to be a tremendous tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I appreciate your mentioning it,” Rogers said of expanding the conversation beyond the Humane Society grounds and its Dogs of War memorial recognition we were counting down to during our conversation.

It was a busy Saturday for ‘Skip’ Rogers as he launches second Memorial Day weekend event at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. And Skip’s hand is on his heart as the colors prepare to accompany the event’s opening dedication to America and its fallen heroes.

As for the Dogs of War ceremony starting the trio of current community events memorializing Memorial Day, which will culminate on Memorial Day this Monday, May 26th on the Warren County Courthouse grounds from noon to 1 p.m., Rogers pointed out, “This is I think the 13th year, maybe the 12th year of the Dogs of War event that Malcolm Barr started. And I’ll talk a little bit about the history of what motivated Malcolm years ago to establish another Dogs of War, but in this country,” Rogers began with a nod to our mutual friend, dog lover, and past Vietnam War era news correspondent stationed in the Pacific during that time.

“It’s a recognition of K-9s, I was a dog handler in the military,” Rogers reminded us. “And so this is something very close to my heart, and Malcolm the same way. He was a war correspondent and the dogs of war became very important to him also,” Rogers said referencing Barr’s discovery of an abandoned and overgrown military K-9s burial ground on a Pacific island dating to World War 2, which Barr helped create the governmental impetus to restore.

And as we have previously reported, Barr also created the impetus and funded the creation of the Dogs of War Memorial Garden on the Humane Society of Warren County’s Julia Wagner Animal Shelter grounds in 2021 if we are reading the War Dogs Garden’s memorial dedication correctly.

The local Humane Society Dogs of War Garden founding acknowledgment signage. Below, the Barr family at Salute to Service event, from left, Malcolm’s brother Neville, son Malcolm Jr., and Malcolm with family dogs, Goose with Neville and Diva with Malcolm. And the Barrs at the earlier Dogs of War memorial with friend Chris Laurence standing next to Malcolm Jr.

“Today is special because this is a passing of the baton after 12, 13 years of Malcolm heading this up he is passing it to me, which I am truly honored to be selected to kind of follow in his footsteps,” Rogers noted of Barr’s emerging retirement as he has passed the 92-year age marker.

So, congrats to Malcolm on his retirement, and to Skip for taking the baton on, not only the Dogs of War ceremony, but with Marine Reservist Rob MacDougall the Memorial Day event on the courthouse grounds, as well as a little help from his friend on the Salute to Service event as need be.

Skip Rogers and Rob MacDougall discuss event logistics for the day as Rob’s dog readies for the blessing of the dogs and a young patron keeps tabs on event preps. Below, sign acknowledging sponsor and musical contributors, and one of those contributors, Rich Follett, opening with the National Anthem and some follow-up, self-accompanied songs.

See more photos of this year’s Salute to Service event below:

Several veteran-anchored musical performers, first the Tidewater-based band ‘Thru with Therapy’, then local Native American combat-wounded Veteran Patrick Littlewolf Brooks, principal of 5 Feathers Productions, provides some distinctive musical accompaniment to his remarks. And further below, not a musical act, was local state representative Delores Oates, introduced as a long-time supporter of government assistance to veterans in need.

A ‘Special Forces Brotherhood’ motorcyclist checks State Veterans Assistance vendor booth out.

Skip and Kathy Rogers Able Forces Foundation veterans assistance booth.

At least two groups of bikers arrived mid-afternoon to join the event. We saw colors of two cited as: ‘Special Forces Brotherhood’ and ‘Brotherhood on Wheels’. There appeared to be a lot of positive energy exchanged between the biker brothers.

It was a busy day for Michael Williams, who gave invocations for both Saturday events, and the blessing of the dogs present during the Dogs of War ceremony.

Several perspectives on the afternoon crowd and some of the available vendor booths.