A special service on Boston Common honored people who died in service to the nation since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
On Thursday, 170 names were read as flags were placed in honor of the dead at the ceremony. Gov. Deval Patrick and other officials and family members attended the ceremony.
The event was sponsored by the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund and is part of a larger volunteer effort planting nearly 33,000 8-by-12-inch flags on the Common to honor Massachusetts’ war dead from the Civil War to the present.
More than 300 volunteers placed the flags on Wednesday and other volunteers watched over the flags through the Memorial Day weekend.