Capt. Brian Cech read aloud a list of Michigan servicemen and servicewomen who died this past year in non-combat incidents.

The parade itself – which winds through a northeastern Ann Arbor neighborhood – featured a squad car from the Ann Arbor police department, a fire truck, a bagpiper, several candidates for local political office, the drum line from Huron High School marching band, and a herd of neighborhood kids bringing up the rear on their decorated bicycles.

The parade ended as it does every year at Glacier Highlands Park – where free donuts, and for-sale hotdogs are on offer. But the focus immediately after the parade is always on the memorial service: “Lay off the donuts until after the ceremony!” came an admonishment over the PA system this year.

The memorial service is not complicated. The colors are presented, a bagpiper pipes Amazing Grace, a trumpeter blows Taps, and the names of Michigan servicemen and servicewomen who were killed in action over the last year are read aloud.

The ceremony was officiated by Capt. Brian Cech – commander of the 1776 Military Police Company out of Taylor, Mich. What was different this year was the lack of the customary list: No Michiganders were this year among those who fell in combat.

But Cech still read aloud a list of names – those Michigan citizens in uniform, who died of illness, accidents, or suicide in the past year. “As we have learned over time,” Cech said, “the toll of the war zone does not stop after our warriors have returned home.”

Here’s the list that Cech read aloud:

• Sgt. Maj. Eric C. Post
• Sgt. Thomas E. Radosevich
• Spc. Richard A. Bloomquist
• Sgt. Renita C. Stevens
• PV2 Brian J. Whitaker
• Sgt. Christopher T. Shenk
• Sgt. Robert M. Nanni
• Sgt. Desmond E. Davis
• Master Sgt. William R. Madden
• Staff Sgt. Patrick W. Wisniewski
• Hospital Corpsman Andrew Shipper

That might not be a complete list of all those in Michigan who wore the uniform and passed away during the last year. That’s according to Lt. Col. Kevin Bohnsack, who spoke with The Chronicle before the parade about preparing for the ceremony. Bohnsack, who lives about a block off the parade route, described how neighborhood resident Stephen Landes had previously prepared the name list – but Landes had passed away during the last year. And Landes’ methodology was not known. So Bohnsack had done the best he could.

Bohnsack had researched the background for some of those on the list, highlighting Davis, who died of ALS at age 41, and Nanni, who died in a car accident at age 29. Davis earned a Purple Heart and three bronze starts among other distinctions for his service in Iraq. Nanni earned a bronze star during his service over multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Walking along neighborhood streets with The Chronicle to the parade entrant staging area, Bohnsack pointed out an additional resource for information about the parade: “Ingrid, up there, she knows what’s going on.” It turns out that Bohnsack knew “Ingrid” as one of the parade organizers, not as Ingrid Sheldon the former mayor of Ann Arbor. Apprised of that fact, he allowed that politicians have a place in the parade, because that is “also a part of our democracy.”

But for his part, Bohnsack focused on the non-political aspect of the parade, stressing that as a member of the military, you swear to obey orders from the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be at the time. He’d spent some of his morning policing the placement of campaign signs in the park – so that they were confined to a designated area.

Here are a few highlights from this year’s parade.

Lt. Col. Kevin Bohnsack, left, and Capt. Brian Cech represented the military in the parade.

Bob Droppleman piped Amazing Grace for the memorial service.

Lorna Barron, who plays trumpet in the Huron High School band, performed Taps.

The Huron High School drumline marched in the parade.

Leslie Science and Nature Center staffers Francie Krawcke and Sarah Gilmore brought a few of the birds from the center’s raptor program, including this bald eagle.

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The greenhouse space adjoining Liberty Lofts as it looked on Saturday and Sunday (May 3-4, 2009).

A brief window of activity had given the corner some life over the weekend. But by Tuesday afternoon, the empty quiet had mostly returned in and around the greenhouse space adjoining Liberty Lofts at First and Liberty streets. The one exception was a  minivan mired in a pea gravel pit just inside the open garage door entrance. A crew of guys was strategically wedging 4×8  sheets of waferboard under the wheels to help the front wheels of the vehicle – already half buried in the loose fill –  gain some purchase.

The guys who were working to free the minivan – we stopped and watched long enough to see them succeed – work for the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and they were removing the last of the display panels used for the master’s of architecture thesis exhibit held on Saturday and Sunday. None of the thesis work remained.

It had disappeared from view just as surely as the notes of Ross Huff’s flugelhorn had faded away into Sunday’s sunny afternoon breeze. Huff, along with two comrades, provided the musical component to a parade that had wound down Liberty Street past the thesis exhibit into downtown, culminating in a cheesecake feast at Sculpture Park. The sidewalk stroll marked the 50th birthday of a Chronicle neighbor and Stopped.Watched. correspondent, Linda Diane Feldt, which she used as a fundraiser for Growing Hope.

The master’s of architecture exhibit was open to the public, and we were fortunate to stumble across a member of that public who knows something about the subject matter: local architect Marc Rueter. He pointed us in the direction of a thesis that had made an impression on him – though he hadn’t had a chance to take in all of the work at the exhibit when we talked to him. It was Javian Tang’s thesis, which Rueter described as offering “some interesting solutions to infill.”

Here’s some photos of both events.

Jason Dembski's "Ephemeral Constructs: From Individual Enclosure to Spontaneous Event." It's that pea gravel pit that posed the hazard for the minivan described above.

The author of this thesis must have started working on the concept well in advance of the swine flu outbreak. Right? "Pull into the garage, park the car, grab the kids out of the car, take off their shoes and jackets, take off your shoes and jacket. Make sure they wash their hands, make sure you wash your hands ... It's dirty out there."

From Javian Tang's thesis: a combination car wash and public shower. Local architect Marc Rueter appreciated the "straightforward drawings" in the thesis.

Javian Tang's Sushi Shooting Range.

The parade encounters attendees of the thesis exhibition.

Ross Huff with flugelhorn.

The neighborhood parade as it approached the corner of Liberty and First from the west.

Linda Diane Feldt, far right, did not lead the parade, but the occasion was her 50th birthday and a Growing Hope fundraiser she organized.