Every November across Canada, local schools or community halls are the site of various Remembrance Day programs and services. For the most part, they are all a standard format. At the end of most school programs, the students go back to their classes. There might be some talk afterwards about the service or perhaps during the past few weeks students have been busy doing Remembrance Day artwork, or even better, preparing entries for the annual Royal Canadian Legion’s local and national poster, essay, and poetry event.

Helping the young remember veterans

Submitted by Ed James

This event was started many years ago to help school children remember the sacrifices made by Canadian men and women over the years in the many wars and peacekeeping operations in which they have participated. And there have been many! However, a new approach has been gaining popularity in the last several years called “No Stone Left Alone.” The Grade 3 to 6 students from Elkhorn school, along with staff members, took part in this unique Remembrance Ceremony on November 3. Retired Canadian Forces Captain Kevin Tutthill, CD, who is also a former Elkhorn School principal, initiated the program at the local level by partnering with the local Royal Canadian Legion Branch #58 and the school for the event.

A survey of the local cemetery was carried out by local volunteers to locate all the grave sites of Canadian military or former military members. The next step was to mark each grave with a small Canadian flag. Two full busloads of children came out to the cemetery and took part in the traditional Remembrance service. The event also brought out eight former and retired teachers from Elkhorn and the area who, at one time, had taught in the Elkhorn School. The service included the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by the students and teachers, and the prayer of Remembrance by Comrade Margaret James. This was followed by the “Commitment to Remember” by student Ryan Anderson. The Act of Remembrance was read out by Chief Warrant Officer Chad Lelond, CD, who is posted at Canadian Forces Base, Shilo, which was followed by the Last Post, two minutes of silence, reveille, and the laying of wreaths. The wreaths were laid by Scotlyn Malcolm and Jazlynn Lowes, representing Canadian Youth, Comrade Margaret James, representing branch #58 of the Royal Canadian Legion, the Canadian Armed forces, CWO Chad Lelond, CD, and province of Manitoba MLA Greg Nesbitt. This was followed by the singing of “God Save The King.”

It was after this event that things changed. All the school children were given a few poppies to place on the flag- marked graves of Canadian military veterans. The children spread out in groups and as singles to every corner of the cemetery to lay their poppies and read the names and dates on the tombstones and to place a single poppy to honour them. There were even some who found a past family member! Perhaps for the first time for these young children, the names on those graves took on a new meaning and they became someone who was real and once part of their community and who had served Canada in times of war and conflict. Once they were back on the school buses, they had one more stop at the Elkhorn St. Mark’s Anglican Church. There in the front yard, next to the church door is a single, D.O.D military gravestone of a veteran from the area. He is not buried there, but the stone was placed there by his family. Mr. Tutthill told the students the unique story of how it was placed there and let them come up for a visit and to leave a poppy. That was the last official event of the “No Stone Left Alone” movement and the students and teaching staff members, along with the invited guests, went to the Legion Hall to be served hot chocolate.

A lunch was held in the legion hall for the invited guests of the event. MLA Greg Nesbitt said, “This was a great school and community event to bring home the message to the kids that their grandparents fought in wars before they were born, and it helped them to learn about our veterans. It’s very hard for kids today to relate to war conflicts that happened so long ago. My thanks goes out to the community members, Legion and teaching staff, that held this important event.” Chad Lelond CD said, “This event, ‘No Stone Left Alone,’ is a fantastic program to involve the young and future generations to learn. There are now almost no WWII or Korean War vets left that the young can talk to so that they can learn firsthand what war conflicts are like. By putting poppies on the grave sites, it makes a connection for them.

Lest we forget.” Kevin Tutthill, the driving force behind this event said, “We had such a great experience for our first year of this program in Elkhorn. The Elkhorn School and Legion were so quick to jump onboard, and both groups made it so easy. A big thanks to our MLA, Greg Nesbitt, for joining us for the day, and a member of 26 Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Army, Shilo, (the army reserve unit in Brandon), just to round out our attendance. “We had several community members, including former retired teachers that joined us, as we walked about our beautiful cemetery, and the co-operation from the weather as we spent some time honoring and remembering our community veterans. This week of remembrance reminds us all to stop, think and observe every day just how lucky we are in Canada.”

Lest We Forget!