Poppies and Canadian flags have been placed on veteran headstones at two Newmarket cemeteries as part of the No Stone Left Alone initiative.
The #142 SAC Cadet Corps at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora took part in the community project to honour veterans at four cemeteries in York Region; the Newmarket Cemetery at 112 Main St, St. John's Catholic Cemetery at 432 Ontario St., Newmarket, Padres Shalom Cemetery in Vaughan, which is the resting place for many Jewish veterans, and Elmwood Cemetery in Markham.
They located the veterans' headstones and conducted a small ceremony, in their uniforms, to lay a poppy and flag at each one.
This was done in partnership with other cadet units across York Region. Maj. Brian McCue, who is the leader of the Cadet Corps at SAC, said that between the last weekend and today, he thinks cadets visited thousands of graves across the region.
McCue said his student cadets were on board with the project from the beginning.
"This was a kickoff to really getting back out into the community to do something positive as a group ourselves, so they embraced it really wholeheartedly," he said.
Since they still weren't able to participate in parades and Remembrance Day ceremonies as they normally would, McCue said this was also an opportunity to honour tradition and wear their uniforms for the first time since the pandemic began as part of a tribute to the veterans whose graves they visited.
Not only was this done to honour the veterans, but McCue said it was also a great learning opportunity for the cadets as they did research on the soldiers beforehand and coordinated the entire initiative.
He said the learning continued in the cemeteries, sharing the story of one young man named Cecil O'Neill buried in Newmarket's St. John's Cemetery who died in 1917 at the age of 18.
"Immediately we thought 'oh he was killed in battle' but there were a few things that didn’t make sense. Why is his gravestone here because they were all buried at locations in France and Belgium?” McCue said.
He said with the wonders of technology, they were able to access the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and learn more about O'Neill.
“It turned out that he actually joined at 16 and was training as a stenographer in Toronto and he was really, really good at it and he was so good that the unit didn’t want to send him off over to Europe right away. They kept him here because he was such a good stenographer," McCue said. "He actually made it the rank of sergeant, which is quite stunning for age 18. But sadly he took ill in Toronto and the fellow passed away. So he wasn’t actually killed in action but he was in service.”
He said it was an amazing learning moment for the students to see the history that is right here around them.
“The boys are sitting there looking at his gravesite and learning about Cecil O’Neill who died at age 18. He’s basically their same age," McCue said.
He said he is already planning to make this a regular part of their Remembrance Day routine and encourages others in the community to take part in the No Stone Left Alone initiative.
The nationwide program was started in 2011 by Maureen Bianchini Purvis, whose mother was a veteran of the Second World War. Every year she would go to the cemetery on Remembrance Day to lay a poppy at her mother’s grave.
It wasn’t until Purvis’ own daughters, who would go with their family to the cemetery, asked her why everyone doesn’t get a poppy.
They tried to honour all the veterans themselves by placing poppies, but found the number of headstones overwhelming and knew they would need extra hands to help.
She wrote to the minister of Veteran Affairs at the time, got his blessing and encouragement and the No Stone Left Alone movement was born.
Now communities and schools across the country register and partake every year to honour Canada’s veterans by placing poppies at their graves.
In 2020, health restrictions prevented large-scale ceremonies from taking place, however, there were still 1,510 students who took part with 28,722 poppies placed and 59,116 headstones honoured.
The year before, in 2019, 12,297 students participated and placed 64,503 poppies in 121 cemeteries across the country.