Update: Front Royal Memorial Day Weekend Events to Honor Veterans, Military Working Dogs

The Dogs of War Memorial ceremony has been canceled due to the weather.

Memorial Day weekend in Front Royal will begin with a reminder that service and sacrifice come in many forms.

On Saturday, May 23, the community is invited to gather at 11 a.m. at the Humane Society of Warren County for the annual Dogs of War Memorial ceremony, a tribute to military working dogs and law enforcement canines that have served beside their human handlers.

Robert MacDougall, Malcolm Barr Sr., Skip Rogers, and Mike McCool discuss Front Royal’s Memorial Day weekend observances in the Royal Examiner studio.

Skip Rogers, founder and executive officer of Able Forces, is helping lead this year’s Dogs of War Memorial ceremony after the event was passed on by longtime organizer Malcolm Barr Sr., who helped bring Memorial Day observances back to Front Royal and later created a separate ceremony to honor working dogs.

Barr said his interest in military dogs began decades ago while he was covering military stories in the Pacific during the Vietnam War. While on Guam, he was taken to a World War II dog cemetery that had nearly been swallowed by the jungle.

“A young man met me outside and gave me a machete, and we hacked our way through the jungle to a lovely setting, shaded and nice, but unkept,” Barr recalled. “We hacked away and found three headstones commemorating three dogs.”

Barr wrote about the cemetery for the Associated Press. The story gained attention, eventually reaching Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who shifted responsibility for the cemetery from the Air Force to the Marine Corps.

Years later, after Barr moved to Front Royal in 2002, he noticed there was no local Memorial Day ceremony. Around 2004, he began holding one at the gazebo and included a salute to dogs of war and law enforcement canines. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional Memorial Day ceremony moved to the Warren County Courthouse, while Barr took the idea of a separate war dog tribute to the Humane Society of Warren County.

“I took the idea of the war dogs to the Humane Society, which I was president some years ago, and they bought it,” Barr said. “I put a life-size dog statue on a plot of ground, and since that time, about five years, we’ve had a public ceremony there commemorating the dogs of war and law enforcement.”

The memorial garden at the Humane Society is a quiet space dedicated to those animals. Rogers hopes this year’s ceremony will help more people learn about it and understand the role military working dogs have played in service to the nation.

“I was a dog handler when I served,” Rogers said. “Military working dogs are part of the team. Malcolm has done a great service over the last decade, and it’s my honor to continue that.”

Rogers, who served in the Army from 1968 to 1970 and worked as a dog handler in 1969 and 1970, said the dogs were “phenomenal” partners.

This year’s keynote speaker for the Dogs of War Memorial ceremony will be Amy O’Connor, National Director of Canine Care for the military at Walter Reed and elsewhere. Rogers said the connection happened by chance while he was at Walter Reed earlier this year.

“I had an occasion to be at Walter Reed back in January, walking down the hallway,” Rogers said. “I’m kind of lost. Those of you who have been to Walter Reed know it is an incredible labyrinth.”

Rogers said O’Connor noticed he and his wife seemed lost and offered to help. That simple moment led to a conversation, and eventually to an invitation for O’Connor to speak in Front Royal.

The Dogs of War ceremony is one part of Front Royal’s Memorial Day weekend observances. The community is also invited to attend the Memorial Day ceremony on Monday at noon on the Warren County Courthouse lawn. That event, led by Rob MacDougall, will honor the men and women who gave their lives in military service.

MacDougall said it is important to separate the two ceremonies so each receives the attention it deserves.

“Having the two events distinct, I think, has been really a nice development because it gives full attention to the Dogs of War of a Saturday event and then also reserves Monday Memorial Day for the full focus on those humans that were lost in service,” MacDougall said.

The Monday ceremony is planned for noon at the Warren County Courthouse front lawn, rain or shine. Attendees are encouraged to bring folding chairs if they would like to sit. McDougall said the ceremony is simple and solemn, usually lasting about 45 minutes.

The observance will include a bagpiper, taps, a wreath laying, a guest speaker, and support from Boy Scout Troop 52. Wreaths for both ceremonies are provided by Fussell Florist, continuing a tradition that has lasted for many years.

MacDougall said Memorial Day is often treated as the unofficial start of summer, but its real purpose is much deeper.

“We’re there to honor, reflect, or remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our country in uniform,” MacDougall said.

“It’s also a day to celebrate the sacrifices that have been made and certainly enjoy the freedoms we have as a result of that,” MacDougall said, “but to take a moment and just pause and reflect for a little bit.”

For Rogers, Barr, McDougall, and others involved, Memorial Day weekend is not only about ceremony. It is about making sure sacrifice is remembered in a personal and public way.

The Dogs of War Memorial honors loyal animals that served beside military and law enforcement members. The courthouse ceremony honors the men and women who never returned home. Together, the observances ask the community to pause before summer begins and remember the cost of the freedoms Americans enjoy.

The Dogs of War Memorial ceremony will be held Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m. at the Humane Society of Warren County. The Memorial Day ceremony will be held on Monday at noon on the Warren County Courthouse lawn.

Let’s not forget the American Legion Community Band Memorial Day Concert at the Gazebo at 7 pm.

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