Students mark soldiers’ graves with poppies

By: Michael Lee Posted: 3:00 AM CST Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 Last Modified: 6:18 AM CST Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018

Ahead of an historic Remembrance Day ceremony less than a week away, hundreds of students braved the rainy weather on Monday to pay their respects to Canadian soldiers laid to rest in Brandon Municipal Cemetery.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2018 (2733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Approximately 700 students from École Harrison, St. Augustine and Riverheights schools marked the graves of soldiers with poppies for the fifth annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony.

Launched in Edmonton in 2011, the ceremony is now held in every province, with thousands of students taking part each year.

St. Augustine School students Cohen Jago, Felip Elizalde, Merrick Smart, Ethan Hutchison and Kelsey Huibers, from left, take up handfuls of flags to place at military grave stones at the Brandon Municipal Cemetery, during the No Stone Left Alone ceremony on Monday morning. See Page A3 for more. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

Brandon organizer Ryan Lawson said the city was the first to hold a No Stone Left Alone ceremony outside of Alberta.

“It’s huge, especially with how the ceremony has grown across the country now,” he said.

Following the ceremony, students also laid crosses and Canadian flags at each of the headstones. A scheduled air force fly-by was cancelled due to the weather.

“It’s just something I’ve always been interested in,” Lawson said, “And I remember sitting in school gymnasiums and not really getting the full effect of the ceremony, and this really brings it home … for the kids.”

New this year was the laying of a wreath bearing 100 poppies at the foot of the cemetery’s war memorial — an act meant to recognize the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War on Nov. 11, 1918.

St. Augustine School Grade 7 students Aden Macmillan, left, and Cohen Jago kneel and say a small prayer for a Canadian soldier buried in a military grave at the Brandon Municipal Cemetery. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

To help mark the significance of this year’s Remembrance Day, Lawson shared a passage taken from his great-grandfather’s diary, written that same day.

Although his great-grandfather didn’t serve in the war, his entry nearly 100 years ago summarized the feelings felt by many at the time: “The war is over. Great rejoicing all over.”

“We got it pretty lucky here,” Lawson said. “Sure there was a little drizzle in the air today, but compared to what they went through 100 years ago, it’s a drop in the bucket.”

As many veterans of Canada’s wars, including the Second World War, continue to grow older, Lawson said he hoped people would never forget what those soldiers did.

“We want to remember, and keep growing this initiative.”