No Stone Left Alone cemetery ceremony ‘hits home’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2015 (3834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 700 students from École Harrison, Valleyview Centennial and St. Augustine schools gathered at the Brandon Cemetery on Thursday morning to honour the sacrifices made by local soldiers.

This is the second year Brandon students have taken part in the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation project by placing poppies on each of the more than 1,200 military headstones in the cemetery.

The project was launched in Alberta in 2011, with the goals of educating youth and of, one day, seeing a poppy placed on every fallen soldiers’ headstone each November.

“It gets the students out of the school setting and into a place that it’s real,” said Ryan Lawson, who spearheaded the local tribute. “It’s a different way to learn about Remembrance Day … (and) it really hits home for them.”

Despite Thursday’s cold weather, students from kindergarten to Grade 8 stood solemnly in front of the cenotaph for the hour-long ceremony prior to laying their poppies.

During the ceremony, students recited the war poem “In Flanders Fields” and members of the Canadian Armed Forces and several veterans made remarks.

Forty members of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry escorted students to the headstones and handed out poppies.

Lawson asked the students to take an extra minute after laying their poppies, to read the name on the headstone and take note of how old the soldier was when he died.

For Emily Robb, a Grade 7 student at St. Augustine, that moment of reflection was a powerful one.

“To see that (the soldiers) were just a bit older than I am and they were in the war … I’m still trying to comprehend that,” she said.

Leading up to the ceremony, Robb’s teacher gave several lessons about the First and Second World Wars and emphasized the impact both conflicts had on soldiers and their families.

While looking at the headstones, Robb says she took note of which soldiers had been in the horse artillery and on the first line of battle.

“That brings back what I’ve learned about how gruesome it was … the first line of battle was dangerous because you were right there and you were probably going to be the first one to get shot,” she said, adding that ceremonies like No Stone Left Alone play an important role in helping people remember the soldiers’ sacrifices.

Frank Worsley, a Brandon veteran, served 27 years with the Canadian Armed Forces and served as a NATO peacekeeper in Germany during the Second World War.

Worsley was representing the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 3 on Thursday and was touched by the number of students at the ceremony.

“It’s good to see the young ones mingle with the Armed Forces and I know the veterans here appreciate it. I know I do,” he said.

» ewasney@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @evawasney