An Israeli soldier places a flag on the grave of a fallen soldier during preparations for Israel’s Memorial Day services on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City, in April 2009. Photo: Kobi Gideon / Flash90.

JNS.org – A new campaign for Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron) seeks to commemorate fallen soldiers who may not have any living relatives or friends to honor them.

Project GalEd — a grave mapping and search engine founded by Michal Serfaty after her grandmother died — launched an initiative to ensure a flower would be placed on the grave of every fallen IDF soldier, including those without living next of kin, known as “last descendants.”

The flower campaign allows people who wants to honor these individuals to order an arrangement to be placed on the grave on Yom Hazikoron next week, Serfaty explained. The donor can add a personal message on black ribbon, and participants will receive a picture of the grave with the flower via email.

“Every year, during the Memorial Day ceremonies, I join my family and thousands of other families in Mount Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem,” Serfaty said. “Thinking about those who have no family to pay them a visit made me realize that Project GalEd has to do something to help them get the respect they deserve.”

Project GalEd focuses on honoring Holocaust survivors, soldiers killed fighting for Israel in the 1948 War of Independence, unidentified fallen soldiers and soldiers with no relatives living in Israel.