Calgary students adorn 4,500 military headstones in remembrance

Hundreds of Calgary students gathered in 13 C weather at the snow-covered Burnslandcemetery to lay poppies in an act of remembrance Monday morning.

Their aim was to ensure not a single one of the 4,500 grave markers there stood unadorned by the time they left.

The annual Canada-wide campaign is the work ofNo Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation, anon-profit organizationfounded in Alberta in 2011 to encourage remembrance of those who lost their lives while serving in the military.

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"It's kind of scary to know that there are people there, and they've died for me," said student Tamanna Kurian. "I feel so happy that I'm doing something for them by laying down the poppy for them."

Students from Calgary's St. Margaret,Ascension of Our Lord,St. Matthew,Our Lady of Peace andBlessed Cardinal Newman schools participated in the ceremony.

Nearly 8,000 children will observe similar events at 100 locations across Canada this week to adorn nearly 52,000 headstones.

"I think if we don't remember, we'regonnafall back into the same boat," said the foundation's Franck Clifford, whose father served in the military.

"We have to pay homage to these people that went ... and never came home. There's all the mothers and fathers that lost their sons and daughters. We need to remember that, at the very least."