OLDS - For the third year in a row, the No Stone Left Alone ceremony was held last Friday at Olds cemetery and was met with a snowy setting.
No Stone Left Alone is a ceremony that honours the service and sacrifice of veterans by placing poppies and flags by headstones of veterans.
The ceremony is put on by IODE baron Tweedsmuir Chapter Olds with the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105.
In attendance at the ceremony were students from Holy Trinity Catholic School, Ecole Deer Meadow School and Olds High School.
“The weather unfortunately is not that great but it’s better than what it was last year,” said Valerie Braiden, IODE Alberta president.
The previous year it was cold, snowy and windy and they had to cut the ceremony short due to the conditions.
“What’s exciting is that the students get to know what it’s all about and what it means to have the veterans and what they’ve done for our country,” said Braiden. “It’s an exciting time for the students to come and be a part of our community and to be involved.”
One of the students in attendance was Brayden Sorensen who is also an air cadet corporal and was proud to be a part of the ceremony.
“It’s great. Coming here is good because then we can honour the veterans that fought in World War I and II,” said Sorensen.
Sorensen would like to take the opportunity to be a part of the ceremony again next November.
Over the three years Legion Branch #105 president Tom Bartholow has seen an increase in the amount of student involvement in a ceremony that means a lot to him.
“It means a lot to me because my dad was in the Second World War; he didn’t get killed in action but he has since passed on,” said Bartholow. “It means a lot to remember the people who gave their lives for our freedom.”
