Flags placed on veterans' graves at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak

ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Memorial Day is about honoring American service members who died in combat and volunteers spent Saturday morning at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak to place American flags on the graves of veterans who gave their lives for the stars and stripes.

Stacey Kochanski and her 13-year-old daughter were two of the volunteers.

“We have the honor of placing the flags and it’s been very uplifting,” Kochanski said.

For weeks they worked with the Royal Oak Memorial Society to clean off overgrown headstones at the cemetery.

“There’s so many people and I guess it puts it into perspective when you start seeing at the end of the day how many flags you see out here,” Kochanski said.

There are over 2,500 veterans’ headstones at Oakview Cemetery.

“I feel really grateful for all the people who died and for our freedom,” 13-year-old Elinor Kochanski said.

The freedom that Elinor Kochanski enjoys continues to be upheld by members of the armed services, including U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Justin Tyree.

“I always look at the name, the contingency they were in, the date that they died,” Tyree said. “Did they have to make that ultimate sacrifice or did they make it back to tell people about their experiences?”