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Scouts Honor Fallen Soldiers By Planting 86,000 Flags On Graves

WEST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A special Memorial Day weekend salute was held Saturday for each of the 86,000 veterans buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Young boy scouts and girl scouts walked the burial grounds, planting small American flags in front of the graves of soldiers who are no longer with us.

Cub scout Zachary Risinger may be only six years old, but, being the son of a veteran, he says he knows what Memorial Day stands for.

"It's when you celebrate the soldiers that went into the Army that died," Zachary said.

GALLERY: LA Scouts Honor Heroes

More than 4,000 scouts took part in planting the flags, and thanking fallen soldiers.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of press, that's something other countries don't get," 14-year-old boy scout Lucas Humayan said. "We owe those freedoms to the veterans we are commemorating."

It took the scouts only a couple of hours to place the 86,000 flags on all the graves, but organizers hope the scouts take the lessons learned from honoring the veterans, and that they keep them for a lifetime.

"I hope that they take home the price our men and women have given for our freedom," troop leader Keith Smith said.

Parents, meanwhile, such as veteran Carl Risinger, say these lessons are incredibly important for their children to understand.

"It's very important to uphold the traditions of America and bring these little guys along."

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