As the sun went down Sunday, the spirit of volunteers did not diminish at a memorial in Cathedral City that honors military personnel who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At 6 p.m., about 40 volunteers at the fourth annual Healing Field were still tagging more than 5,000 American flags with the names of the U.S. troops who died in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Each flag represents a fallen military member.

Volunteers at Patriot Park read their names and said they would stay until all 5,231 names were read, by about 11 p.m.

“I think this is the best turnout we have had since we started doing it,” said Healing Field Volunteer Coordinator Cynthia Davis.

Davis said people from as far away as the Salton Sea came to pay their respects at the memorial on Sunday.

Volunteer Katie England, a senior at Cathedral City High School, bumped into a man from Beaumont in the afternoon, asking where he could find the flag honoring his grandson, Spc. Michael Dahl.

Dahl, 23, of Moreno Valley, was killed in Afghanistan on Oct. 17, according to the Department of Defense.

“It made me feel that people do appreciate this and I feel that I am really doing something for the community, England said of her volunteerism. She and her friend, Chelsey Gonzales, 17, and her father, Cathedral City Mayor Pro Tem Charles “Bud” England helped mount flags and read names throughout the day.

The event brought the diversity of the Coachella Valley, said Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis.

“I don't know of any other event in recent years that has had this kind of cross section,” he said.

Among the volunteers were the Cathedral City High School ROTC squad and football team, Vietnam veterans, a motorcycle club, city employees, Cathedral City Rotary Club members and elected officials.