Red poppies
 

Do people wear them earlier and earlier every year?! Is it a competition? Do they think that if you aren't seen to be wearing one in mid October that you might not support Veterans? It smacks of bandwagon showing off and annoys me.

November the 11th is Veterans day, and it is that day alone that I show my unbridled admiration and gratitude to anyone who served in horrendous wars to protect our freedom. Lately I have been reading many relatively unknown books and diaries about WWII and it is truly amazing and sad to hear of so many real heroes who died so selflessly yet who nobody knows about. People who were friendly, young, optimistic, and fought so hard only to be killed and have their names disappear amongst the endless lists of casualties. They need to be remembered.

http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/lrdg/L...ges/jake_2.jpg

Re: Red poppies
 

Well put, and not to forget about the poor lads coming back now who are seriously wounded or have died. Not only to the public named soldiers of Afghanistan and Iraq but to also the unnamed men who have returned in coffins over the past decades. These men died in battle and there families are still battling to get there compensation from a government that denies there involvement in activities on behalf of British interests.

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Surely the longer they collect the more £ they get?

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+1

I worked in the Army Medical History Museam for awhile and read alot of first hand accounts of bravery and selflessness.
I will be wearing one on the 11th.

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But surely everyone only buys one, they just wear it for weeks and weeks?

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Not nec. I always lose at least 2, maybe 3 or more, and I feel obliged to put more £ in the tin for each one.

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My grandad's not around to say it this year, but he used to say the same thing every year- people get their poppy because that's just what you do, but nobody ever thinks about why they're doing it or what it means. Same as people "observing" minute's silences but sitting there thinking about their shopping lists or whatever. Lip service. But then, he was a bad tempered old b*****d :smt080

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my grandad bought one a day from nov 1st, 11 in all so that's what I do.

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I did see the most mahoosive poppy yesterday on the front of a lorry. I want to get one for my tiny little car!

I understand what you say about lip service - regardless of poppy buying, how many people actually attend a rememberance parade? I always used to book the morning off work and generally made one of my bosses feel guilty the first year when she read my holiday request form and the reason contained therein...

... to the point she actually arranged a closure of the office for 30 minutes each year thereafter to encourage everyone to make the 2 minutes walk to the memorial down the street.

To be honest though, I don't care if it band-wagon climbing, lip service or crass commercialisation - the more money that goes into there tins, no matter how early, the better... and if a little education as to the 'why' of giving happens along the way - all the better, but I'm happy for ignorant money to go their way too.

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Surely by wearing a poppy prior to Nov 11th it`ll make people remember and take notice? No bad thing as the actions of our brave men and women shouldn`t just be remembered and commemorated on one day... they should be remembered all year round.

Re: Red poppies
 

In my opinion not enough is done to educate people about why we have a rememberance day. I certainly can't remember much being mentioned about it at school. I'm afraid that we are constantly bombarded by 'glorified' images of war are many people don't realise the true horror and misery. It annoys and saddens me whe work colleagues don't observe the silence or see it as an excuse to read the paper or whatever. I for one genuinely think about it, about my great uncle who died in the first world war and has no grave and all the others like him. This year will be the first time I actually attend a rememberance parade. My new partner is in the TA and has done tours in Iraq and Bosnia. I will be thinking of her too.

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I think alot of people buy poppies just for the sake of it and don't know the full story behind it's true meaning, it should be better documented in schools and parents alike to tell there off spring what people have put themselves through over the years.
Even more so for both world wars as people were conscripted and made too join up to fight for a cause, i'm not taking anything away from the service men and women of today as it's a job they've chosen to do and i have much admiration for them, i'm buggered if you'd get me out in the Helman province (sp)

Does anybody give a second thought for the other nationalities that also lost thier lives?
A quote from Harry Patch, Britains oldest surviving war veteran
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/gr...ftharry112.jpg
Very humbling from a man who's probably seen more death than 50% of the population.
He has recently had a book published telling of his exploits in the trenches, "The last fighting tommy" he has been quoted as saying he has never got over it, living with nightmare images for over 90 years, he is a true hero (as are all serving and ex serving memebers of the forces)
A very compelling read and very humbling, it makes you sit back and take stock of your own life.
exert taken from his book

What really gets on my t!ts is the knit your own sandal brigade who sit next to these poppy sellers and try to berate them saying it's all wrong, i've witnessed this once (wanted to drag them round the corner and beat the living daylights out of them) but read about it on many occasions.
Do these idiots not realise what people have sacrificed over the years?

And like you ed, i too usually buy about 3/4 as i tend too lose them :D

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Although I've bought one every year for as long as I can recall, usually with whatever loose change I've had in my pocket. This year is the first year that I've purposely sought out and purchased one with a respectable contribution, I've lost it already. Whether or not one agrees with the political reasons for sending soldiers into combat, these men and women do so in the sure knowledge that there is a very high possibility of death or permanent debilitating personal injury. This makes them true heroes IMO.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit some of the second world war battlefields. We visited Omaha beach. We arrived during low tide, and I deliberately went right to the waters edge and looked back inland. To walk quickly across that sand in full leathers isn’t easy, to have to run across it soaking wet, with full battle kit, and get shot at is the scariest thing I can think of

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I always get through about two or three each year, and will wear it with pride. I have one friend who is in 1 Para, another who is ex-1 Para, and several more who have served in the different services (including a very, very gentle giant who was a Royal Marine).
I know why the 11th of the 11th is important, but as a society we still do not seem to learn these lessons.

On a slight de-rail, I am appalled by Billerical council's U-turn in putting a plaque up for the Mother and Daughter who died in the tube bombings on the towns War Memorial. I have no problem in a plaque in their memory, but shouldn't it be at the station that they lost their lives, and not on a memorial to those who gave up their lives so we could live freely?
To me it feels like it is dishonouring 'The Few'

Re: Red poppies
 

I give into the tyke gene on my mothers side and get out the one I bought 10 years ago. Still looking good despite the pin rusting a bit now.;)


Seriously, the ex servicemen/women who this country have abandoned over the last 50+ years deserve more. Not just those who served in the 2 world wars but every other squabble including those that never officially happened.

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I like to make sure I have a poppy on me for aslong as I can make it last. I used to work for st dunstans, care home for the sight impaired ex-service men. It was humbling, those guys gave up alot so I could have freedom, and for that I am very gratefull.....not only to them though, also to the current bunch of service men who are there to defend us all if anything should threaten our way of life (ok, i appreciate there could be another whoooole argument there...). You know what I mean, you know what I;m saying. All you guys in the forces, cheers :smt038

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I buy poppies every year. For the last couple of years the same 'elderly chap' stands in Asda raising money selling them. I get them from him, don't know why...just do. I tell my little lad who is 6 why we buy poppies, while I buy them.

Both my grandads served through WW2. First grandad died many years ago, but he served on HMS Hood. He was on land duty when the Hood went down, he lost many, many of his friends that day, he never ever spoke about it...it obviously hurt very much. Second grandad died a couple of years back, I'm not sure what his part in it all was but I do know he used to fix a lot of tanks and motorbikes, if he hadn't have been serving in Germay when it finished he wouldn't have met my gran, and brought her back to this country. Shes German, but her family lost a very big farm in East Prussia (as it was then)to the Russians...they never got back wht was rightly theirs.

Poppy day rememberance is important in our family, its why I educate my son about it....so he doesn't forget ..... ever

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Politicians are the worst. They all buy poppies, then spend all their time in the commons trying to strip us of the freedom those soldiers suffered horribly to protect.

That said, the general populace always seems happy to let them, so perhaps we're all terrible hypocrites.

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I took part as a member of the ATC in the memorial services and parades.. It is something I do take vary serioulsy and I use the minutes silence to pray for those who have died past and present and thier famillies.

Its something I find important.

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There's a good chance they didn't dig into their own pockets, probably bought for them by their private secretary.

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critisising people for wearing poppies?

Can someone please let me know a) when I am "allowed" to buy and b) "allowed" to wear a poppy?

thanks awfully

Re: Red poppies
 

I always support the poppy appeal, but this year felt particularly strongly as I went to Ypres earlier this year. I think it's a very valid point re: remembering the Germans who died too. Their being on the "wrong" side doesn't make their death any less of a tragedy. Like others, I feel that it does seem a bit odd to wear them so prematurely.

On an unrelated note, the poppy itself could be designed so much better. I think an integrated safety pin running vertical along the back of the stem of the poppy would work much better.

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The reason I wear one this early

Very true

Not for me it wouldn't, hated it a few years back when you could only get poppys that were stuck on a pin, abosolutly rubbish when stuck in a riding jacket, much prefer the plastic stick things :)

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I'm sorry if you took this the wrong way, it was most likely not aimed at you. It was aimed at people described most perfectly by Northy's Grandad:

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Wear it now, and wear it with pride!

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yeah I was just being a bit pr1ckly to the original post. Ive got one already :thumright:

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I've lost some very close mates in conflicts over the years, my mum and dad were living in Malta throughout the entire duration of WW2 and I never had any desire to speak German as a first language. I owe the fact I'm alive and British to the bravery and determination of many many allied troops, so I am only too happy to put money in the tin.

On the other side of the coin, I also feel for the surviving families of conscripted German troops who died in two world wars. War is an ugly thing that kills the most important people and leaves the politicians high and dry.

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I've experienced these people before. I have actually threatened one or two with a severe pasting if they don't pack up and walk a long long way from the poppy seller. When they see I really do mean it they up and go very quickly.

I don't have anything against them excercising their right to free speech, but these tw4ts should bear in mind just who fought and gave their lives so they still have the privilege of free speech in this country.

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Well put Lozzo, are you an ex-serviceman?

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That's what i was trying to say but not so elloquent as thee :D

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Yes, same mob as you for two years in the early 80s.

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Why only the two, with the RM I take it?

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Smashed myself up really badly on a bike in Nov 1981 - I just wasn't up to anything after I got out of hospital so took the civilian option. Don't regret joining, don't regret leaving. Been so long since I was in that I've forgotten most of what I got up to.

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Wish I could forget a lot of it, been serving since 1990 (two in 40 Commando, one in 539 AS, and the rest (nealy 15 years) where I am now).

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I spent my time in 42 Commando based at Bickleigh and 9 months of it in hospital.

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What years, if you don't mind me asking?

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1980 - 1982

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Bit before my time... ;)

Manage to keep you Beret?

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Of course, it's in my mum's loft in a box with some other stuff I'll never part with.

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The earlier the better, it is not about the 11th hour on the 11th day anymore. It is a much further reaching appeal and we should join in and force the feral youth of today to understand what blokes like this did for our country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/gr...ftharry112.jpg

Harry Patch 110 launched this years appeal with Simon Weston