Flags of remembrance: 20,000 graves marked in Beaufort National Cemetery ahead of Memorial Day (+ video)

A Marine Corps wife and her four children walked across the thousands of gravesites Wednesday, placing American flags at each headstone of the fallen men and women who have served in the U.S. military.

Teary-eyed and astonished by the vast amount of graves, Amy Fitzgerald reminded her young children how lucky they are their father came home after each deployment overseas.

"I am very emotional," she said. "Out of all of the times that he came back, there was an opportunity that he wouldn't have, and I didn't really realize that until just now."

Like the Fitzgerald family, dozens of families, students, veterans and active-duty men and women placed flags Wednesday at all of the headstones of U.S. veterans and their spouses at the Beaufort National Cemetery. Since the cemetery's establishment in 1863, more than 20,000 veterans have been laid to rest in the semicircle-shaped burial grounds, according to the National Park Service website.

As a way to honor and remember the veterans, the cemetery hosts an annual pre-Memorial Day event in which the community and visitors can place American flags at each headstone.

Cemetery director Craig Arsell said that having the community working together is the most valuable part.

"Putting the flags out is very important, but it is the community coming together and joining the cemetery to work as a team is what I really want to achieve," Arsell said.

Retired Lt. Col. Patrick Fitzgerald, who served 20 years in the Marine Corps, said his family wanted to return thanks to the servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives for this country.

"I thought it was important that my kids, who often get caught up in the events of the summer, take the time to sit down and talk about the people who served this country and understand the value of giving back," he said.

Retired U.S. Army veteran Jim Weiskopf, who served in the Vietnam War, took part in the placing of the flags for the first time after moving to Beaufort earlier this year. The event hit close to home for Weiskopf, who spent three years as the public affairs officer for Arlington National Cemetery.

Weiskopf said he hopes the community takes the time to remember the significance and true meaning behind Memorial Day.

"America can never forget its veterans," he said. "However, I think sometimes people lose the meaning of Memorial Day, with all of the picnics and barbecues, when it's really about honoring the sacrifices of every man and woman who served our nation."

The true meaning behind Memorial Day was a constant thought in Amy Fitzgerald's mind Wednesday as she continued to place flags at the gravesites.

"I know some of these families out here that have relatives that didn't get to come home," she said. "I am here out of gratitude for those families and honoring their loved ones."