OLDS — The annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony to honour war veterans was held Nov. 5 at the Olds cemetery.
The event was organized by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE) Baron Tweedsmuir chapter.
Members of the IODE participated in the ceremony, along with local dignitaries, members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105 as well as students from École Olds High School, École Deer Meadow School and Holy Trinity Catholic School.
Traditional ceremonies were held, including the singing of O Canada and reciting of the famous poem In Flanders Fields.
Students laid stylized poppies and specially-made commemorative stones at the graves of veterans.
A piper played songs traditionally piped at such services.
IODE Baron Tweedsmuir president Diane Powney was pleased with the huge crowd that turned out.
It was a bright, warm, sunny day – far different from conditions a couple of years ago, she noted during an interview.
Last year, the event was cancelled, due to COVID restrictions.
Instead, high school students researched the lives of veterans while Holy Trinity and École Deer Meadow students made wreaths. IODE members brought those wreathes down to the cemetery and conducted a ceremony.
Powney was grateful for the large turnout this year.
“I don’t have anybody in here, but this was important to me,” Powney said. “It’s important, especially now, with everything that’s happening in our world. It’s important to remember what we have in our country and who fought for us."
She was especially pleased to see the students participating as they did in the past.
“This is awesome,” Powney said. “It just gives me goosebumps every time I see the students come and look.
“I was just telling someone else the first year that we did this, the teacher asked the students to look at the grave, look at the year the child was born, look at the year that they died, do the math and tell me how old they were.
“And there was one girl, all she said was, ‘oh my God, he’s the same age as my brother.’
“I think the comprehension, to realize these people were really young. Like, how young they were when they fought. And some of them even lied about their age, just so that they could go fight in the wars. So obviously that meant something meaningful to them, even back then,” she added.
Addison Krieger, a Grade 8 École Deer Meadow student, was among those assigned to search for the grave of a veteran so he could place a stylized poppy by the gravestone.
In his case, that veteran was Charles A. Sturrock who served in the Royal Canadian Army.
When he found Sturrock’s gravestone, Krieger paused for a moment of reflection before and after placing the poppy there.
“Rest in peace,” he said.
Krieger said he found the whole experience to be “cool.”
“I think I’ve been to a few (cemeteries), but this is the first one that I’ve ever been (to) here. Like, I’ve never really walked anywhere around here before," he said.
“It’s kinda cool, seeing all these people who served for the war and fought for us.”
