Grade 8 students from Jasper Junior/Senior High School placed poppies on the headstones of Canada’s fallen soldiers during a special ceremony at the Jasper cemetery Nov. 10.
The ceremony was organized in conjunction with the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation, a non-profit organization that honours Canadian soldiers that lay in cemeteries across the country.
In attendance at the ceremony were several town councillors, Rev. David Prowse, members from the Jasper Lions Club and two warrant officers from Edmonton.
Prior to laying the poppies, Mayor Richard Ireland spoke to the students about the importance of remembering those who served in Canada’s armed forces.
“Those who served did so knowing that their service subjected them to the possibility of great suffering, including the possibility of suffering death,” said Ireland.
“They accepted the risk and the possibility of their own suffering to spare you the suffering of oppression, and it’s that service we respectfully honour and remember today.”
Following Ireland’s speech, Rev. Prowse spoke about the significance of the poppy, considered a symbol of remembrance to commemorate military personnel who have died in war. He also spoke about Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields,” a poem he wrote during the First World War.
After his short speech, Prowse led students to several graves where he briefly spoke about several community members who served in the military and have since passed on, including flying officer James Robinson, who was killed in a plane crash 40 km north of Calgary in 1941.
The reverend also took time to mention those in the community who served over the years in other capacities, such as Insp. Kristjan Anderson who served with the North West Mounted Police and Sheila Vuksnovich who served as a cryptographer for the air force.
After he spoke, the Grade 8 students recited “In Flanders Fields” in both French and English before pausing for a moment of silence. They then took 15 minutes to quietly place dozens of poppies on the headstones of those who served to protect Canadians’ rights and freedoms.
Reflecting on the ceremony, Grade 8 student Ainsley Koebel expressed the importance of remembering Canada’s fallen soldiers.
“Today we don’t really learn about war and why we have Remembrance Day and I feel like it’s important to know because it could be the reason that we’re alive today,” she said.
Andrea Lising, another Grade 8 student, shared similar feelings.
“I didn’t really know much about World War One or World War Two and I didn’t know there were veterans here who don’t have families, so to be here and pay respects to them means a lot to me,” she said.
This is the third year Jasper has held the ceremony, explained Mike Day, a former town councillor who organized the event.
Jasper was the first town to adopt the initiative outside of its birth city of Edmonton. No Stone Left Alone started with Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, whose parents both served in the Second World War.
She had been marking their graves with poppies for years, and then one year her daughter asked why all soldiers didn’t get one. That question sparked the initiative, which has spread to cities and towns across Canada since 2011.
“I think it’s a testament to Canadians and the service they do and I think it’s very important that we keep doing it,” said Day. “I think ultimately the hope is we never have to go to war again, but the reality is we have to be prepared.”
Paul Clarke
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