Patriot Park will be transformed this weekend into a memorial garden planted with more than 5,000 U.S. flags.

Each flag stands 6 feet tall and honors a military serviceman or servicewoman killed during operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Known as the Healing Field memorial, the display opens at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Cathedral City park. It's the fourth consecutive year the community has hosted the event there.

Last year's memorial had 4,256 flags. An additional 975 flags are expected this year.

As of Monday, 5,231 total military deaths were attributed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.

Standing amidst a sea of red, white and blue flags makes the wars “more real,” said Sue Priest, a Healing Field organizer.

“The numbers just add up, and just think, the first year we did (the Healing Field) we planted 2,800 flags and four years later we have almost doubled it,” she said.

Each flag will be tagged with a deceased service member's name, age, hometown and branch of service. Four of the flags will honor those with ties to the Coachella Valley.

Organizers planned the event for six months, securing permits, coordinating volunteers and collecting information on the casualties, Priest said. The event concludes Nov. 14.

The long list of people and organizations that helped bring the event back reflects a mostly western valley effort. The Cathedral City High School ROTC squad, Palm Springs American Legion, Desert Riders motorcycle club, Cathedral City fire and police departments, and the Cathedral City Rotary Club are among the volunteers.

And Forest Lawn in Cathedral City will provide a bugler to play taps.

The total number of volunteers is in the “hundreds,” Priest said.

Event sponsors include Burrtec Waste of Palm Desert; Green, de Bortnowsky & Quintanilla LLP; North American Van Lines; Big League Dreams and Forest Lawn.

There are also numerous smaller donors, said Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis, who was involved with raising funds for the event.

The total cost for this year's Healing Field was $30,000, which was mostly paid by the sponsors and with in-kind services, Pettis said.