WATCH: Hundreds of school students stop by Esquimalt’s Veterans Cemetery to pay their respects for No Stone Left Alone ceremony. Isabelle Raghem reports.
Ceremonies took place across the country today for the No Stone Left Alone program, including on Vancouver Island.
Hundreds of students from Rockheights Middle School stopped by Esquimalt’s God’s Acre Veterans Cemetery to pay their respects. Each student stood in front of a grave, reading the name written and honouring their sacrifices.
The school’s principal says this is their fourth year participating in nation-wide ceremonies.
‘We were the first school in British Columbia to experience No Stone Left Alone,” says Maryanne Trofimuk, “We had such an amazing experience with our students [previous years] and the reflections afterwards really showed us as the staff that this meant a lot to them as well.”
The No Stone Left Alone initiative educates school children of the sacrifices of those who served, ahead of Remembrance Day.
“It is very significant for us vets to see the youth of Canada to come out on a cold day and pay a degree of recognition for the sacrifices of those veterans made,” says Retired Major-General Cam Ross who is an organizer of the program.
“Although it’s just a small fraction of time, it means a lot to us as veterans.”
The God’s Acre Cemetary has been a resting place for those who serve since 1868. Currently, more than 2,500 military personnel and their families are buried at the national historic site.
Isabelle Raghem
