TEXAS — A Texas man is making it his mission to honor fallen veterans who served the country.

Morrison Fussner began the tradition over a decade ago when he noticed there were no flags placed on veteran gravesites on holidays like Memorial Day. The former and third generation Marine decided to fill that void by placing flags on gravesites at national cemeteries around the state.

Thus, Flags for Fallen Vets was born. His hope is to have enough support from volunteers to keep the movement going.

“DFW National [Cemetary] was our first one in 2012, and then we kind of expanded from there,” Fussner said. “We did Houston. Then we went to Florida, and we picked up five in Florida. We picked up three in South Dakota. We picked up three in Colorado. Then five years ago, we picked up Fort Sam.”

It’s an all-volunteer nonprofit that’s become a passion for Fussner.

“This year, the organization along with the spinoff will place about 850,000 flags. It’s been a joy,” said Fussner.

Volunteers will place those flags nationwide, with hundreds of thousands going to national cemeteries in Texas.

“Just in our warehouse here in Cleburne, we store all the flags for Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. That’s about 350,000 flags we go through every year,” said Fussner.

Having that many flags means they need a large amount of volunteers, which Fussner said has been a little tricky this year.

“We need more volunteers every year because the cemetery grows every year… pretty quickly unfortunately. For placement, we’ll have about 3,300 volunteers this year, and we’ll place about 140,000 flags at Fort Sam,” said Fussner.

Luckily, they do have the amount of volunteers needed ahead of Memorial Day to make sure each veteran’s gravesite is patriotic to honor their sacrifice.

However, Fussner said he needs 800 volunteers for Fort Sam and is still about 350 short.

The little flags placed at graves year after year, Fussner said, helps people understand why Memorial Day is a holiday. He said it’s close to his heart as a former Marine and for those who are still on the front lines.

“That’s what’s keeping us with the freedoms we maintain every day. We’re just one generation away from losing that. So it’s important that younger people understand that and come out,” said Fussner.

Fussner said he will continue the tradition he began back in 2012 for as long as he can.

“I’ve got a few years left in me still,” joked Fussner.