By Alex McCuaig

No Stone Left Alone

Hundreds of students lay poppies at tombstones of soldiers

Nov 4, 2019 | 5:00 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – Grade-school students from across the city gathered on a cool Monday morning at the city’s cemetery to place a poppy at each and every tombstone of a Canadian veteran.

The ceremony was part of Medicine Hat’s No Stone Left Alone event held in conjunction with dozens of others across the country honouring tens of thousands of departed veterans.

The event`s organizer, Trish Richard-Tuchscherer, says she was inspired to hold the ceremony in Medicine Hat following seeing Edmonton`s on the news.

“I think why we remember is something that we don`t often think about,” said Richard-Tuchscherer. “So, it’s really nice to get to the root of why we remember.”

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It’s a sentiment shared by Robertson Memorial Legion president Shelia Donner.

“I think this is a great way to get the kids involved and a lot of them starting thinking, ‘I had an uncle. I had a great-grandfather. I had a father that had a military connection,'” said Donner. “And I think it`s all about making those connections and remembering why we live in a free society.”

This year’s No Stone Left Alone ceremony also had an added component to the previous two held in the city.

Medicine Hat Rocks, a group which promotes decorating rocks and placing them around the city, took part by painting more than 700 stones to hand out to students attending the ceremony.

The group’s founder Rebecca Schmale said the members were fully supportive of helping out, and producing the decorated stones over several weeks.

“And with No Stone Left Alone, it hit close to our hearts because my grandfather was a veteran and another administrator, he grandfather was a veteran as well. So we said, ‘yeah, let`s do this.'”

More than 100 schools across Canada are taking part in this year’s event.