Flags placed at graves of veterans at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines

Imagine a grave, ignored and neglected. The name hidden under overgrown grass. No flowers. No visitors.

Kevin O'Connell refused to see such a sight for the thousands of veterans buried at All Saints Catholic Cemetery in Des Plaines.

He had long thought of a Memorial Day tradition at national cemeteries, where soldiers adorn headstones with American flags.

He sat down over coffee with Mike Lake, commander of the VFW Post No. 2992 in Des Plaines, to recreate that effort at All Saints.

"It became a family mission," says O'Connell, a retired Des Plaines police officer whose grandfather and father, who served in World War I and II, respectively, are buried at All Saints.

It became Operation Flags for Vets.

The work was painstaking.

As All Saints doesn't keep records of where veterans are buried, roughly 150 volunteers - mostly Scouts and former service members - scanned monuments and headstones Saturday across the more than 50 sections at the cemetery.

It's easier to identify the government-issued stones, Debbie Gast, whose family owns Gast Monuments in Des Plaines and Chicago, told the volunteers.

Above those name is a cross, sometimes inside a circle, Gast noted. And sometimes there are emblems of the military's branches.

"You read it, you know," Gast instructed the group.

The turnout exceeded organizers' expectations - so much so that they quickly ran through the 2,000 flags they had obtained through donations by Hills Funeral Home and Rivers Casino, O'Connell said.

For the youngsters, Lake said he hoped the inaugural event reinforced the significance of Memorial Day.

"It's not about barbecues and brats and picnics and sales at the stores," Lake said.

So, what's it really about?

Ask Aidan Balow, the Boy Scout who helped place flags in Section 39, first drilling a small hole with a screwdriver into the ground. He answers without hesitating.

"To honor their service."