As they do every year ahead of Memorial Day, volunteers placed tens of thousands of U.S. flags around Boston Common’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on Wednesday in tribute to the many fallen U.S. service members who called the Bay State home.

Beginning from the years ahead of our nation’s founding on to the present, more than 37,000 people from Massachusetts have sacrificed their lives during service and as a result of military conflict, and Home Base and Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund have marked their dedication with a display of American flags on the Common for the last 16 years running.

According to information provided by the groups, each of the planted flags serves to “represent every brave Massachusetts service member who gave his or her life defending our country since the Revolutionary War.”

“The completed garden is a breathtaking tribute to the true meaning of Memorial Day and a powerful message of community support to the families of these fallen heroes that their sacrifices will never be forgotten,” the group writes of their efforts.

A name reading ceremony was scheduled for Thursday morning at the memorial, but has been moved to “an indoor, private location with limited capacity” due to forecasted inclement weather.

The flags are scheduled to stay in place on the Common until the evening of May 27, and despite the nor’easter forecast Thursday, the groups behind the flag display say the public should feel free to stop by through the weekend to take in the scale of their installation and consider precisely what it is meant to represent.

“We highly encourage members of our community to visit the flag display on Boston Common throughout the weekend to show Massachusetts Families of the Fallen that their loved ones’ ultimate sacrifice is honored and will never be forgotten,” the group wrote.

Jodi Kross and her son Thomas, 9, plant some of the 37,000 flags on Boston Common to honor Massachusetts residents killed while serving in the U.S. military. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Cassandra Sexton, 10, helps plant flags on Boston Common, Wednesday. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)