MILWAUKEE—The War Memorial Center in Milwaukee is continuing its Memorial Day weekend tradition of covering Veterans Park with flags.

This year, volunteers placed more than 12,000 flags to represent the Wisconsin veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Civil War.

Jason Young is one of the military veterans who volunteered to place flags over the last three days.

“My wife came down on Thursday. Me and my son are down here today,” said Young.

For Young, this experience is about educating his son on the sacrifices that those who came before him made and building camaraderie with his brothers and sisters in arms.

“Day to day, things happen. Things going on in the world. You definitely have to take time out. It’s a great time to spend time with family but also try to educate those and understand why we are out here, what we are doing,” said Young.

Dan Buttery is the president and CEO of War Memorial Center.

He said he wanted to focus on Wisconsin Civil War veterans this year, because it was the first major battle that Wisconsinites fought in, as a state.

“They recruited 91,000 troops, of which 12,301 died, which was a tall order to have lost. We have so many veterans and if you look around, you see the uniforms. You’ll see the hats they are wearing. This means a lot culturally,” said Buttery.

While Buttery said he loves that Memorial Day weekend is a chance for people to unwind and have fun, he hopes people also take the time to reflect on why Americans can enjoy the freedoms they have.

He said this field of flags captures that sacrifice.

“It’s a visualization. Each one of those flag could be a coffin, so visualize that. We soldiers salute the flag, while we are in uniform. We follow the flag in battle and then we die, they bury from under the flag. This is incredible symbolism for those of us who have served. That’s what this represents,” said Buttery.

Young said it's also important to reflect for another reason.

“This is a moment in time to say, 'Hey, let’s capture something from the past but also look for what’s going on now.' There’s still people that are fighting overseas and you can’t just continue to go on through the day to day without taking a moment to remember those who are still serving,” said Young.