Students from two local schools made sure no soldier's headstone was left alone in field of honour sections at Holy Cross and St. Albert Roman Catholic cemeteries Friday.
Students from two local schools made sure no soldier's headstone was left alone in field of honour sections at Holy Cross and St. Albert Roman Catholic cemeteries Friday.
The youths, from Lorne Akins Junior High and Bertha Kennedy Catholic Community School took part in the initiative organized by the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation.
This year the initiative saw students from some 20 schools across the province take part by placing poppies on soldiers' graves. It was the first year students from St. Albert schools took part.
The project began three years ago when Edmontonian Maureen Bianchini-Purvis expanded her family's poppy-laying ceremony by inviting school children to also take part in honouring those who served in Canada's military. Now a grandmother, Bianchini-Purvis explained that both her parents served in the military.
"My father served overseas for a time and my mother served in Canada. My mother died first. She said to me, 'please don't forget me on Armistice Day.'" Bianchini-Purvis said.
That began the poppy-laying ceremony for Bianchini-Purvis and it's a practice she taught to her own children.
"One time when my daughter was 10 or 11, she asked me why all the headstones didn't have poppies," Bianchini-Purvis said.
A few years ago, Bianchini-Purvis' grandchildren became old enough to put poppies on their great-grandparents' graves, as well as those of other soldiers whose final resting places were nearby. It soon became obvious that the task to cover every headstone was formidable. That's when they asked other students to take part.
"In Beechmont there are 4,000 headstones in the military field of honour," Bianchini-Purvis said.
Bianchini-Purvis' main goal is to honour the Canadians who served their country, but she hopes that in doing so, there is an educational component for those students who take part in the ceremony.
"From the beginning I hoped to engage the students," she said.
The Field of Honour portion of most cemeteries is apart from the main graveyard. Bianchini-Purvis is aware that there are soldiers whose graves are not located in the fields of honour.
"That's why we also have a wreath at each cemetery to honour the unknown soldiers," she said.
The No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation Remembrance ceremony took place simultaneously across the province and included two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. The ceremony at Beechmont Cemetery was broadcast and available to schools throughout the province, for use as part of Remembrance Day ceremonies.
Lorne Akins students placed 18 poppies on soldiers' headstones at Holy Cross Cemetery. The students who attended were chosen from each home-room classroom, said teacher Wendy Jennings.
"In my home room, the students wrote a short paragraph to say why they would like to attend. Some students have a military background and I know one student already volunteers with veterans. I think the idea of representing their home room and their school was also important and the students felt honoured to do this," Jennings said, adding that this poppy-laying endeavour is just part of the school's Remembrance Day ceremonies.
Sombre and ceremonial
Members of 1 Combat Engineer Regiment were on hand at the St. Albert Roman Catholic Cemetery on Mission Hill to lead the poppy-laying service, which included two minutes of silence.
"The No Stone Left Alone Foundation has championed this out of remembrance. I trust the children who came today appreciate the meaning and got to reflect on the sacrifices that members of the Armed Forces made on behalf of Canadians," said Capt. Kent Miller.
As each of the six sombre-faced Grade 5 and 6 students tromped through the snowy cemetery to place poppies on soldiers' headstones, they were accompanied by Miller, who served in Afghanistan, and Warrant Officer Cory Kavanagh, who served in Bosnia, Haiti and Africa. At each grave the soldiers saluted and the children stood at attention beside them.
Grade 5 student Matthew Kociuba, who is 10, said he came to the ceremony even though he doesn't know of any family member who served in the Canadian military. But students at his school have parents in the military, he added.
He wanted to be there for his friends to help them. Yet when asked to express how he felt about the event, he appeared shy, and stepped away from his friends to say how he felt.
"I feel proud," Kociuba said. "And when I put the poppies on the graves, I felt sad."
The No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization. Last year the foundation donated $7,000 to the Royal Canadian Legion. Those funds went towards the support of the Military Resource Centre at Edmonton Garrison. Any funds raised this year will be given to the Legion for research into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
