Students in Oromocto, N.B., have a poppy and a name in a small plastic baggie.
They’ll place those poppies on the headstones of Canadian soldiers. It’s part of No Stone Left Alone.
Maureen Bianchini Purvis, whose mother is a Second World War veteran, founded the organization after her children asked why some of the graves didn’t have poppies on them.
“She told me she’d tell them one thing then another thing and after awhile it was like ‘I don’t know why but we should,’” said Maj. (Ret) Dan Hone, who organized the NSLA locally.
Oromocto is home to 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, the second-largest military base in the country, and there are deep roots to military life and family here.
Hone said that is a part of the reason they hold the ceremonies in Oromocto.
Since it was founded in 2011, No Stone Left Alone has led to 7,702 students from 88 communities placing 67,171 poppies in 131 ceremonies.
For Maj. Monica Fournier it is important to have the next generation remember the Canadian Armed Forces, both past and present.
During the ceremony, she asked the group of students to raise their hands if they know someone who works in the CAF – the majority of kids held a hand high.
“World War I and World War II are far in the distance but (students) get to come out and see the headstones and they get to share a moment of remembrance with their peers. At the end of the day, really, they are the ones that are going to carry (the) message forward,” she said.
Hundreds of students are expected to participate in several ceremonies leading up to Remembrance Day in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
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