meet THE MEMORIAL DAY

Grand Marshal Robert Haffner

BY ANNA SWARTZ PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT WHITEMAN

The Army brought Haffner something far greater than an impressive military record and prestigious medals. Haffner met his late wife Ruby during his training in Georgia. “I knew her for five minutes before I asked her to marry me,” Haffner reminisced at the recent Memorial Day Parade fundraiser. He was referring to the one dance they shared before he popped the question. Ruby did not say “yes” that day, but the pair married in the late ’40s. Haffner has two daughters, Cherie and Marcy.

Haffner lived in St. Clair Shores for decades and is a long-time member of the Walter F. Bruce VFW Post #1146 in St. Clair Shores. To find out more about Haffner’s time in the service, go to vimeo.com/216561253 to watch a 2017 video of St. Clair Shores Mayor Kip Walby interviewing Haffner.

Robert Haffner recalls being in the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade for the first time about 50 years ago, but the 2023 parade held extra special meaning for the 98-year-old. A World War II combat veteran who served with the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division, Haffner was selected as this year’s Grand Marshal.

Haffner says serving in this role “makes me feel good.” At the Memorial Day Parade Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser on April 27, Haffner donned a navy cap embroidered with WORLD WAR II VETERAN in gold thread. A frame encasing cherished medals – including France’s Knight of the Legion of Honor Medal – never left his sight.

Drafted into the Army shortly after high school, Haffner’s time in the service spanned from January 1943 to February 1946. During his career, he participated in the Normandy Campaign in France during the summer of 1944; Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in September 1944; and the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the U.S. during WWII, the Battle of the Bulge, from December 1944 to January 1945.