For Danette Lees, this Remembrance Day looks different.
The Grade 7 student is among dozens of Humboldt Public School students who laid poppies along the headstones of fallen Canadian Armed Forces members at a Second World War cemetery in Humboldt, Sask., last week ahead of Remembrance Day.
But for Lees, the event was more than just honouring those who lost their lives in war; it is also a way to commemorate two of her relatives, who she says are buried among the more than three dozen servicemen and women at the gravesite, marked by white headstones engraved with their names and service ranks.
“I feel like this would make them very proud of themselves,” Lees said, referencing her great-grandfather and his brother buried at the site. “I’m very honoured to be here with my class and everyone.”
The students gathered at the cemetery as part of the town’s annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony — a program for students to honour veterans and learn about their service each Remembrance Day.
No Stone Left Alone is a movement born out of tradition and founded by Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, who would visit and lay a poppy at the grave of her veteran mother every Remembrance Day starting when she was a young girl.
Later on, Bianchini-Purvis’s husband and kids joined in, leaving red poppies at Beechmount Cemetery in Edmonton. Then, out of ambition to leave a poppy upon all the headstones at a gravesite, friends lent a hand.
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Soon enough, the movement picked up speed and, in 2011, the No Stone Left Alone organization was founded with the ambition of educating students about the service of Canada’s military while making sure no headstone goes without being remembered.
Now, ceremonies under the initiative are held across nine countries. Last year saw a record-breaking turnout, with 13,000 students from more than 200 communities showing up to leave poppies on more than 120,000 headstones.
This marks the sixth year Humboldt Public School teacher Robyn Moore has brought the program to her school’s Grade 7 class. She said the ceremony provides a unique opportunity for her students to connect with service members and grasp the importance of Nov. 11.
“Reading about something is really great, but there’s nothing like actually experiencing something hands-on and being off-campus,” Moore said, adding that the presence of legion members, a uniformed Canadian Armed Forces officer and two Grade 8 student army cadets helps students connect with the event.
The event also helps students connect with their local community, something Moore said would not be the case if they were just reading about it in textbooks.
“Students seeing names they recognize in our community, and these are people’s grandparents, aunts and uncles, it just helps.”
Maj. Dan Sembalerus of the 10th Field Artillery Regiment said being part of Humboldt’s No Stone Left Alone ceremony for the first time was an “outstanding” experience.
“My time is short as well and there will come a time where I’ll be here and it’s important to know that people will remember who I was and what I’ve done,” Sembalerus said.
“We’re normally quite humble as a nation but it’s extremely important that people remember who we are and what we’ve done.”
The ceremony also marked an important time for the local cadets, who stood beside Sembalerus for the ceremony’s proceedings and shared that they could one day see themselves serving in similar roles.
“For me, it feels great to be here to support everybody here who is going through whatever they’re going through and to help out the community as best I can as a cadet,” Oliver Miller said.
“It’s really nice to be here to lay poppies for the army people that have passed away,” Leah Roach said.
“So that they’re never forgotten and always remembered.”
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Humboldt students pay respects in No Stone Left Alone ceremony
