BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - There are 4,000 American flags outside of The Home Depot in Denham Springs. The store held a veteran's memorial event Saturday for vets and their families. One of the organizers, Stan McCurdy, is the proud dad of two veterans.

"It's an honor to do what we do for him and for all of the military people and veterans that we represent by doing these types of events," said McCurdy.

Senator Bill Cassidy took the stage to tell veterans and families how he wanted to help in Congress, but personal reasons brought him to the event.

"My dad was in the Army Air Force, and I grew up wearing his patches on my sweatshirt and was so proud that my father was there," said Senator Cassidy.

Not all of them make it home though, two of these 4,000 flags represent McCurdy's sons Grant and Ryan. Ryan never made it home to his dad.

"He was killed in the line of duty, saving another Marine's life in January 2006, it was two people. He saved a young Marine whose wife was pregnant with her first child and based on information that we've researched this year, he has two other children and so he's been able to be with him as their dad and be a part of their lives," added McCurdy.

Ryan has since been inducted into the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame for what he did.

"My son wasn't married and didn't have any kids, so he made the ultimate sacrifice for another Marine to be able to love on his kids and be a part of that," explained McCurdy.

Ryan is one of the reasons his dad organizes this event each year.

"I am extremely proud of him, I miss him, I can't say that I don't, but I do miss him a lot," said McCurdy, "as far as him, as far as him saving the other gentleman's life he's a hero. He's a hero."

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