Volunteers prepare veteran grave markers for Remembrance Day

EDMONTON -

Volunteers came together on Saturday to tidy up a local cemetery with veteran grave markers ahead of Remembrance Day.

Edmonton’s Beechmount Cemetery has more than 1,900 grave markers for fallen Canadian veterans. A group of youth and volunteers took it upon themselves to help clean away dirt on the headstones.

“The military has always been important to my family,” Jonathan Hobson said. “We are showing the respect these headstones deserve.

“Leaving them in disrepair and leaving them dirty doesn’t show we’re thinking of them the way we should.”

“It’s teamwork and working with each other for such a meaningful cause,” Brookelynn Fiddler said.

Many participating youth are members of local cadet programs that share personal connections with the country’s past and present military.

“As a veteran myself, to see youth come up and say they want to be involved in the act of remembering speaks volumes to their calibre and what they believe in,” Justin Yaassoub told CTV News.

“(Doing this) is the only way we can keep the remembrance going,” Hobson added. “If we let it end with this generation, we won’t have anyone to pass it down to.”