Students and community members will gather at Brandon Cemetery on Nov. 6 to place poppies on veterans’ headstones as an act of remembrance at the No Stone Left Alone Ceremony, starting at 10 am.

 

The annual event gives students and youth a unique experience that teaches military history and builds understanding of the sacrifices made by members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Brandon was the first city to hold a No Stone Left Alone ceremony in 2014.  Annual ceremonies are now held in every province.

 

The program’s growth shows how much can come from one simple idea. According to the foundation’s 2025 figures, more than 17,479 students from 220 communities participated in 336 events with 47 new cemeteries across six countries. Together, they honoured 114,825 veterans internationally.

 

This act signals respect and gratitude for fallen military veterans, while honouring living veterans, serving members and their families.

No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation is dedicated to honouring and remembering Canada’s veterans.

 

The involvement of schools and military personnel reflects the community’s shared commitment to remembering those who served. It also allows students to take part in remembrance beyond the classroom.

 

The idea behind No Stone Left Alone is easy to understand: every veteran deserves to be remembered. A poppy placed on a headstone may seem like a small gesture, but it carries a meaningful message.

 

Through its ceremonies, the foundation connects younger generations with Canada’s military history and reminds communities that remembrance is a shared responsibility.

In Brandon and elsewhere, the message remains the same: those who served should not be forgotten, and their sacrifices should continue to be remembered by generations to come.

 

 

In 1971, a Second World War veteran mother, Lilian Mary Bianchini, on her deathbed, asked her 12-year-old daughter, Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, not to forget her on Armistice Day. She took the request seriously and began placing poppies with her family and friends. From the loving action of family and friends, the No Stone Left Alone movement was born.

Maureen Bianchini-Purvis launched No Stone Left Alone in 2011, in Edmonton, to help ensure national respect and gratitude for the sacrifice of soldiers who have lost their lives in the service of peace, at home and abroad.

 

Since then, the program has developed, bringing students, schools, volunteers and military members together to remember veterans by placing a poppy on a headstone. By doing so, participants recognize a person who served and show respect for their contribution.

No Stone Left Alone gives people a chance to remember veterans individually, rather than seeing remembrance as something that happens only on Nov. 11.