Hundreds mark 2024 No Stone Left Alone ceremony in Edmonton

With most veterans from the First and Second World Wars now gone, remembering their sacrifice on Remembrance Day becomes more difficult.

One Edmonton group hopes a more personal quest will help young Canadians better understand the past.

The Field of Honour at Beechmount Cemetery was filled with sounds and hundreds of people on Monday, this time for the 14th annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony.

Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, whose parents served for Canada in the Second World War, started the No Stone Left Alone movement in 2011. The first ceremony was held at Edmonton’s Beechmount cemetery.

It has become her mission to see that one day all of the soldiers’ headstones have a poppy placed in their honour at Remembrance Day.

Since then, the tradition has expanded beyond anything those behind it thought possible.

“The kids really want to come back and so I think we have 600 children on site this year,” Bianchini-Purvis said.

4:35 No Stone Left Alone returns to remember fallen Canadian soldiers

On Monday, veterans and students helped her with that mission on nearly 4,000 headstones.

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“I think this program is something that’s different, it’s not a textbook. They have to come out of the classroom, they actually physically get on a bus and come down,” Bianchini-Purvis said.

Each of the headstones at the cemetery is now decorated with poppies thanks to Edmonton students. Those kids say they’re walking away with a better understanding of Remembrance Day.

“It changed my point of view because I learned more things than I would usually learn and understand better than what I would learn from school,” Grade 5 student Ruby Andrews said.

And this year, even more soldiers will have a poppy.

In 2023, 11,340 students from 200 communities placed 80,838 poppies on headstones at 287 ceremonies.

The foundation has surpassed those numbers this year. The ceremony that started in Edmonton has grown to more than 300 ceremonies around the world.

“I think if you come and you see the children do that simple little act of placing down a poppy, it’s so powerful to our military members serving today, and for our veterans and their families that can’t reach these places,” Bianchini-Purvis said.

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It’s a powerful message even for those who are still learning why.

“Remember the soldiers that protected us and our land, forever,” Matthews said.

Visit the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation’s website to learn more about the movement.