The ‘No Stone Left Alone’ Remembrance ceremony was canceled due to cold weather Monday, but that didn’t stop the grade 5 and 6 students from King George Elementary School from placing paper poppies by the military headstones at Rosedale Cemetery.

The ‘No Stone Left Alone’ initiative involves middle school students who honour and recognize the sacrifices Canadian military representatives have made by placing a poppy on headstones in Canadian fields of honour.

Eldon Milligan, a grade 6 student, said, “[The placing-of-the-poppy ceremony] means that we remember the people who have died to give their lives for safety,” and that it was important to remember veterans, “...because they made sacrifices to keep us safe.” 

King George Elementary School grade 6 student Eldon Milligan places a poppy by a veteran's headstone at Rosedale Cemetery.

Grade 6 teacher Michelle Gallagher said, “I believe it’s important that children are aware of the freedom and peace we enjoy in Canada, and that they know that our veterans and peacekeepers have helped make that peace possible.”

Even with the cold weather, Gallagher said the students still wanted to place the poppies. “We talked about how the conditions of soldiers fighting in different parts of the world...that they were fighting in trenches with water and rats, and not enough food. And we decided that [the cold weather] was not a good enough excuse not to go. And so [the students] still wanted to go.”

Before placing their poppies, the students recited the World War I poem ‘In Flanders Fields’.

15 Wing Moose Jaw did a flypast over the cemetery prior to the poppy-placing ceremony.