Tiny American flags adorned almost 3,000 graves at the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens today.

They symbolized the 3,000 Maryland veterans buried at the Timonium cemetary, where today thousands gathered to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives at war.

Seven men and women of the armed forces were welcomed Monday into what the cemetary calls the "Circle of the Immortals"—a memorial shrine dedicated in 1967 and reserved for Marylanders killed in action.

The seven men and women who have died in the last year were:

• Air Force Master Sgt. Tara R. Brown, Bowie, Maryland, April 27, 2011
• Army Sgt. Jameel T. Freeman, Baltimore, Maryland, August 11, 2011
• Army Sgt. Barun Rai, Silver Spring, Maryland, August 3, 2011
• Army Specialist Ronald H. Wildrick, Jr., Woodsboro, Maryland, December 11, 2011
• Airman 1st Class Matthew R. Seidler, Westminster, Maryland, January 5, 2012
• Air Force Senior Airman Julian S. Scholten, Upper Marlboro, MD, February 18, 2012
• Army Major Robert J. Marchanti II, Baltimore, Maryland, February 25, 2012

About 130 Marylanders have died serving their country since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. 

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Who are you honoring today? Tell us who and why in the comments section below.