Winnipeg students honour soldiers with No Stone Left Alone ceremony

Hundreds of local students took part in a ceremony at a Winnipeg cemetery to remember those who have served Canada.

Peter Martin with the Transcona Legion brought the No Stone Left Alone ceremony to Manitoba last year, where students lay a poppy at the foot of a gravestone of someone who fought for the country.

“It’s that more personal connection to the reality of war and to the act of appreciation for what we have in Canada,” said Martin. “They can actually see that it’s real people and people from our community.”

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A total of 505 students from eight different schools gathered at the Transcona Cemetery’s Field of Honour on Monday morning.

“It was inspiring,” Mia-Bella Calderon from Arthur Day Middle School said. “People gave up their lives to go to war just to protect their country and the people so we could have peace in our country.”

The Grade 6 students also took part in a moment of silence.

“It’s amazing to be here and to honour and remember all of these soldiers who fought for us,” Diana Shushkovsky from Bernie Wolfe Community School said. “Just to place the poppy and to salute the veterans just feels really good.”

It was moving for Afghanistan war veteran Scott Stroh who served in 2010.

“You lose friends and colleagues and it’s an experience that you can’t really describe unfortunately, but you’re humbled when you come home and you’re ever so thankful you’re Canadian,” he said. “It makes me excited as a veteran to see them get excited.”

Another No Stone Left Alone ceremony will take place at the Elmwood Cemetery on Friday, Nov. 10 at 10 a.m.