As his mother Megan Klingensmith watches, Grady, places one flag in a memorial of 660 that represents the total number of veterans who die by suicide each month.

BUTLER TWP — Four volunteers and their children spent Sunday afternoon planting small American flags by hand on a grassy hill beneath the business plaza at the corner of Route 8 north and Decatur Road.

Each flag placed Sunday along this small stretch represents a veteran who died by suicide. The entire collection — 660 flags in all — shows how many veterans die in that manner each month.

Nicole Langhorst of Pittsburgh said she learned about Flags for Forgotten Soldiers from a Facebook friend in Plainfield, Ill.

“It's a traveling memorial,” Langhorst said. “We're the first ones to have it in Pennsylvania.”

Flags for Forgotten Soldiers calls itself a grassroots effort to bring awareness to the veteran suicide crisis. The weeklong display is based on the statistic that 22 veterans die by suicide each day.

Langhorst said her sister, Michelle Langhorst, served as a staff sergeant in the Army and later took her own life.

“I never thought in a million years that I would be living this life right now,” Langhorst said.

Langhorst said she has been pursuing ways to help veterans ever since. She said her drive to raise awareness of veteran suicide is how she met Megan Klingensmith of Butler.

Klingensmith said her brother-in-law, Jared Stiles, who served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy, also died by suicide. Klingensmith is also an ambassador for Mission 22.

“We think when they come home they're safe. But they're not,” Klingensmith said.

She said she joined Mission 22 to make a difference. The organization is a nationwide nonprofit that provides free medical treatment for veterans struggling with traumatic brain injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Our ambassador program is a grassroots effort of volunteers across all states,” Klingensmith said. “Eighty-five percent of all donations go directly to our programs.”

Klingensmith said the flags show people the reality more clearly than citing statistics.

“That's a lot of flags for people to look at,” she said. “I'm hoping the visual aid will help people see the situation.”

Klingensmith said it took about a month for her and Langhorst to find the right place for the memorial.

“The property owner, Ken Frasier, was really good about letting us use this space for the week,” she said.

Langhorst and Klingensmith also recruited some volunteers to help place the flags.

Sara McGee of Butler and her children, Meghan and Connor, helped with the memorial Sunday. McGee said she lost her stepfather, a Navy veteran, to suicide. She remembers the pain and the emotional conflict left in the wake of his death.

“Suicide death further complicates an already complicated grieving process,” McGee said. “I'm happy to help Megan, Nicole or anyone else to raise awareness.”

Shaney Fleming of Butler said she has not lost someone, but wanted to help any way she could out of respect for her friends and for those who have served.

“To take a step back and see how suicide affects friends and family, it's eye-opening,” Fleming said.

Klingensmith said there are a lot of resources for veterans and their families. She said they need only be connected.

She said veterans or those concerned about a veteran can call the Butler County Crisis Hotline at 800-292-3866 for immediate help, adding that other veterans assistance programs like Mission 22, www.mission22.com, are also available.