Students from a Vernon high school, along with members of the local Royal Canadian Legion and the British Columbia Dragoons gathered in a Vernon cemetery Wednesday morning to lay poppies on the graves of veterans.
The short ceremony is part of a national project called No Stone Left Alone. The initiative, which started in Edmonton, aims to eventually recognize all Canadian veterans by laying a poppy on their graves in the lead-up to Remembrance Day.
Read More: No Stone Left Alone honours fallen Canadian military
In preparation for the ceremony, the students researched the lives of individual local veterans. Some students say the project has given them a deeper understanding of what the veterans experienced.
“It is really sad and you get to feel a connection with the people who fought for the country which you don’t get often. When you come here it is just even more real than it is just talking about it,” said grade 11 student Ella Oduro.
Captain Jeffrey Daley of the British Columbia Dragoons spoke to students, impressing upon them that the local veterans from past generations were not all that different from the students themselves.
Wednesday’s ceremony was the first time Vernon has taken part in the initiative. No Stone Left Alone ceremonies are also planned in Kelowna and Victoria.
Students laid poppies on the graves of 467 veterans from the Boer War, World War One, World War Two and the Korean War.