Dana Yates/Daily Journal Boy Scout Braydon Ross, 7, of Mountain View, places flags in front of headstones at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno Saturday morning. He was one of approximately 2,500 scouts placing flags at each of 138,000 grave sites in preparation for Memorial Day.

The number of participants this year is more than most can remember in the long-standing tradition that draws troops from San Jose to San Francisco. After so many years, the process has become perfected and quick, but the memories always last.

“Of all the things the Boy Scouts do each year, this is the only thing they’ll remember they did last year,” said Dan Sheldon, a Boy Scout commissioner from San Jose.

Sheldon has 45 years with the Boy Scouts of America. He attended countless Memorial Day flag ceremonies at the National Cemetery, but this year took on a new meaning. In January, Sheldon buried his father Lauren Sheldon at the National Cemetery. His father was a Navy veteran and lifelong supporter of the Boy Scouts.

Saturday marked the first day back to the cemetery since his father’s funeral and Sheldon found it hard to keep tears from his eyes as he watched the children and their parents place flags on each grave stone.

“I’m impressed that they are out there instead of off cooking hot dogs or something,” Sheldon said.

Indeed, Memorial Day has taken on a more somber tone since the start of the Iraq war — 3,974 American troops have been killed in either Afghanistan or Iraq.

For the youngest Tiger Cubs, the Memorial Day event has less to do with the current conflict and more to do with history. The scouts move quickly, placing flags at gravestones in record speed. Most of them take note of what war a person served in and some of the small math wizards quickly calculated the age at which some former troops died.

They know why they are at the cemetery from speaking with their parents.

“Because soldiers died in war,” said 7-year-old Braydon Ross of Mountain View. He also talked about Memorial Day in the car trip to San Bruno Saturday morning.

Older scouts understand the severity of war and the meaning of each flag.

“It’s important because they are veterans and they fought in the war to make this a safe country,” said 16-year-old Lowell Surio of Daly City.

Those at San Bruno’s National Cemetery Saturday know the act of placing a flag at a gravestone is a memory that will last much longer those of pool parties and barbecues.

“It’s a moving experience,” said Paige Thibodeaux, Cub Master of Pack 80 of Mountain View. “It’s a way to remember what we are as a country and that freedom isn’t free.”