Volunteers began placing 6,800 flags honoring American lives lost in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Friday morning, April 25, on the sloping lawn of Newtown Congregational Church at 14 West Street.

The flags will remain in place for three weeks before returning to the Somers Congregational Church in Somers, Conn., where members there first placed over 2,000 flags, October 23, 2005.

The Field of Flags will be retired after its final display in Somers, after having been displayed at 70 churches, mostly on the East Coast.

The Fields of Flags appeared at Newtown Congregational Church one time previously, in 2009. At that time, casualties numbered 4,981.