A symbolic moment for families of fallen veterans

“This is for all the veterans, not just my son,’’ said Monti, in a brief and solemn ceremony, before hundreds took bundles of banners and roamed the sprawling tract in search of headstones in need of a flag. “Please honor them.’’

More than 1,500 volunteered to support Monti, Arredondo, DesLauriers, and countless others who have lost loved ones in American conflicts or have relatives serving in the military, by the estimate of a state trooper at the cemetery. In their honor, 56,000 grave markers were adorned with the Stars and Stripes.

Eventually, in row after row, on rolling hillsides, flags fluttered in the breeze.

“When I came here, it was shocking that there were no flags,’’ said Monti, who buried his son, Sergeant Jared C. Monti, at the Bourne site in 2006. Cemetery personnel said that a flag- lined driveway leading to the heart of the burial complex was “sufficient,’’ he said.

“Something had to be done,’’ Monti said. The effort that followed culminated in yesterday’s ceremony at the 749-acre cemetery. The flags will be there until June 4, when they will have to be taken down.

Victor Palmieri and his wife, Chris Altieri, whose T-shirts proclaimed their son a Marine, arrived early and planted scores of flags, but the first was for their son, Jesse, who is training to enter a Marine Corps special forces unit, the couple said.

“We did one for him, and a couple hundred others,’’ Victor Palmieri said.

“The act in which we’re participating in today, simple and basic in action, [is] profound in meaning,’’ said Representative William Keating, during brief remarks. The Cape Cod Democrat thanked Monti for teaching the lesson of remembrance, a message echoed by many who lost sons, daughters, or other relatives.

“Sometimes you feel … like everyone’s forgot,’’ said DesLauriers, 58, of Eastham, whose son, Army Sergeant Mark R. Vecchione, was killed in action July 18, 2006.