Are you wearing yours yet ?

[falling rain]

Falling rain, I do not mind you trying to convince me otherwise. You have the right to free speech as well to try and convince me to hold your opinions. I know you aren't having a go.



It's just folk like Steve that are laughable, personal insults are no good.

Fair enough mate. I agree that personal insults are not necessary.
And I respect your opinions too, even though I may not agree with them. You have to remember NO ONE, likes war.
I'd fairly safely bet that there's not a family in this entire country that hasn't somewhere down the line lost a loved one or member/ancestor of their family in one war or another.
I had a geat aunt Flo (sister of my grandma) in Exmouth Devon who died in 1986 aged 87. She was born in 1899. She lost her husband in Flanders and never married again in all her years and was 17 when she married. She was a wonderful lady, never had a chance to have kids, because her husband was killed so soon after they got married, and a whizz on the sewing machines and used to make uniforms for the soldiers, in the first and second world wars.
She was one of 3 girls born to my great grand parents who also had 7 boys. 4 of them died in the first world war, and were all a few years older than aunt flo. She lost 4 of her older brothers.
My own Grandad was a squadron leader and recconaisance (spelling?) photographer in the second world war. I've still got arial photos he took of German factories that were to be bombed. Luckily he survived the 2nd world war and died of natural causes in 1978.
I loved my aunt flo and my grandad, and never knew my great uncles that gave their lives or my aunt flos husband, who died at the age of 19, but that is the reason I'll be wearing my poppy. For my brave great uncles who stepped up to the mark when asked to do so by our country, and paid the ultimate price...............and for everyone else who did the same.

I'm sure pretty much every family in this country has their own story to tell.

God bless my great uncles, and my aunt flo's husband.

I WILL remember them.....................you don't have to. it's your right.

 

[snoop Ex member]

Thanks again for all the posts & insights into you WHY you wear your poppy,

For me when i see the poppy worn it says "A Hard FOUGHT Freedom "

I watched on the news tonight that the MOD are not going to help with the Normandy vets wanting to go back 1 last time to say goodbye to fallen comrades/Brothers in arms, IMO that absolutly makes me wretch with anger !

I think the Yanks have it right,when they call that generation "THE Greatest Generation" as no other generation since has sacrificed so much,
it hurts to see that we are having this hard fought freedom given away by our goverments so easily, too countries our forebears fought

I also remember those still fighting & serving in Her Majestys armed forces for this country & not getting the respect or treatment they deserve from government & in some cases the public,
So that's why i wear my poppy & why i also CELEBRATE veterans day on the 27th June

 

[rik_uk3]

The is why I wear my poppy with pride

Grand dad Archibald Miller

He survived gas attack and had two fingers blown off

Grand dad Richard Baker

Born 1888, full time soldier

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=642087

http://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=642087


And men like this

 

[jamie18thmo]

I'll be wearing mine down here, even though ANZAC Day is a different date to Remembrance Day in the UK. We've got a BL poppy on the front of our camper. I leave it on all year round, because I don't see the act of remembrance as a one-day-a-year thing. I remember as often as possible.
I wear mine for my Uncle Don, killed near Falaise in August 1944, driving a humber armoured car with the 53rd Reconnaissance Regiment. He's listed as missing in action. The letter from his C/O to my Nan,explaining that his vehicle was shot by a german tank, and stating roughly where he was killed, is my most treasured item.
I've researched the events as much as I can, but it's not easy after so long to piece the jigsaw together with so much information missing.
Lots of my mates and other relatives have also served, so I wear my poppy for them also.
Being down here in NZ, I really miss watching all the Remembrance Day events on TV.
Wear them with pride, regardless of what some idiots say!
Cheers,
J

"As a final point, if no one fought, there would be no wars." Year right! Is anyone really stupid enough to believe that?

 

[gregorach]

Hmmm.... A more complex issue than might be thought, for many people. I'm about as devoutly anti-militarist as they come, and I used to take a view very much like Chips. However, over the years I have come to realise that you have to separate the military as a political and social institution from the actual individuals who chose to serve. I'm extremely cynical about the reasons governments chose to fight wars, but as far as I can see, the vast majority of the people involved have entirely admirable reasons for doing so.

I wear a poppy, not with pride, but with sadness.

 

[jamie18thmo]

I wear a poppy, not with pride, but with sadness.

Just to clarify. I'm also sad that my Uncle and so many like him didn't return from the war. Sad for him and the life he didn't get to lead and sad for the family who lost him, but I'm still immensly proud of the fact that he volunteered and went to do what he thought was right and had to be done.

 

[gregorach]

Oh, don't get me wrong - I don't imagine anybody's happy about it.

 

[BorderReiver]

I'm another one who hasn't much time for the pride.

Sorrow and Gratitude are more in my mind when I wear my poppy.

Let's not forget the people who suffered no physical harm but still had and are having their lives ruined by the mental trauma of what they went through.

 

[wingstoo]

I'll be wearing mine for many reasons, not just because of the members of my family that took the oath and either lived or died whilst serving but for other members of my family who didn't take the oath but died as a result of war anyway.

My Uncle was a submariner during WWII and survived being hit by torpedos from German submarines on two occasions, Another Uncle received his call up papers for the RAF and was a mechanic on the airfields that dealt with Spitfires.

My first uncle was away at sea for quite some time, on return for leave he went home to find that it was no longer there, and his wife and 4 year old daughter had been killed during the blitz, these facts were not reveled to me until I attended his funeral a few years back, so now I remember them as innocent victims of war.

Whilst researching this I came across another family of the same name in Kent who also lost a wife and daughter about the same age, I even contacted the family and found out what happened, a very tragic tale as it was the day of the fiercest arial fighting of the Battle of Britain, September 1940, During a dog fight between a Spitfire and an ME109 the Spit shot down the ME109 which then crashed into the farmyard of this unfortunate family, killing the young daughter immediately, fatally injuring young mother and daughter who died the next day, and severely injuring the husband and father. Although it turned out not to be the Aunt and cousin I was searching for it was the same name and similar circumstance, a very tragic loss, and one that I will also remember.

So it is for me not just a rememberence of the brave members of the forces I will be remembering, but those who died whilst not in combat.

Sorry for the ramble.

 

[scoops_uk]

However, over the years I have come to realise that you have to separate the military as a political and social institution from the actual individuals who chose to serve. I'm extremely cynical about the reasons governments chose to fight wars, but as far as I can see, the vast majority of the people involved have entirely admirable reasons for doing so.

I wear a poppy, not with pride, but with sadness.

I agree completely Greg. I wear a red poppy alongside a white pacifist poppy. It humbles me that people gave their lives to protect my freedom.

One Grandad is in Salerno War Cemetery, Royal Tank Regiment, R.A.C., "C" Sqn., 5th.

Age 25.

My other grandad survived the Normandy landings.

Scoops

 

[Mesquite]

Just to let folks know that if you wish to donate to this year's poppy appeal by using your mobile phone then simply text POPPY to 80848

The text will cost no more than £1.50 plus your normal phone providers charges and at least 90p will go to the British legion. In return they will send you the above Poppy to use as a wallpaper on your phone.

 

[Rothley Bill]

I will as I always have been buying several Poppies as I lose so many, and not only will be wearing them at all times i am out. I will alo be on parade with the other 75 Scouts in our group who all give up their time for the on the 9th and will still be wearing my poppy when I will be in the USA on the 11th.



It is only by remembering the past we have any hope of changing the future

 

[British Red]

As cunning as a fox that has just been appointed as professor of cunning at Oxford university?

I'm not sure about that But the RBL has a range of cunning solutions for the poppy losers amongst us

His (also available as cufflinks)

And hers (also available as earrings)

Red

 

[Armleywhite]

Sorrow and Gratitude are more in my mind when I wear my poppy.

Let's not forget the people who suffered no physical harm but still had and are having their lives ruined by the mental trauma of what they went through.

Thankyou.

Having seen active service and LOST mates. I still wake up, at times crying like the proverbial baby. The only way I have made it through my life to be here and now is massive love and support from my family and close friends. Even the Army were fantastic in my return to "normality". My wife puts up with so much from me but she does so with love and complete understanding.

I pray to almighty above that none of you see the red mist from your mate or that you hear that thwackk of the round hitting him in the chest. Unlike the hollywood jumping and flying bodies, he turns to you looking like someone has just smacked his backside and he falls to the ground like a sack of spuds.

I wear my poppy each year with the remembrance of those I drank with, served with and fought with and those still left out in the cold windy South Atlantic. I also wear it with massive pride to those that fell and lived through the WW1 & 2 and every other conflict since

Two poems that mean so much to me, if I may?

I miss the lads.
I miss those crisp clear nights,
when the frost glistens in the moonlight.
I miss those lonely exposed hills,
lashed by the rain.
I miss the young and innocent faces,
some of whom we’ll never see again.
I miss the laughter and the crack.
I miss their morbid humour,
the childish pranks and unspoken laws.
I miss the sense of belonging,
that unique bond.
I miss youth at it’s best,
though I’ll grow old, unlike the rest.

What I miss most ?
I miss the lads.


James Love

One More

They’d got another one last night.
He’s given up the ghost,
He’d given up the fight.
They found him early this morn.
The gaunt and haunted look upon his face. . .
The rope lay wound around the small and twisted form.
No bullet holes or shrapnel wounds,
No blood, no snot, no gore.
Just another casualty
Of a long forgotten war.

James Love

And especially for ars.... people like chips, who know sod all of reality

May 82

It rained,
and I heard it fall.
Maybe not every drop,

but almost all.

We cut the turf.
And stacked it high.
Two foot thick
and just as wide.

Rain ran down my face
while it filled the hole.
Soaked my clothes.
Washed my soul.

No gentle pitter-patter this,
it crashed.
The wind howled, and blew.
Bayonets slashed.

And all the while,
eight thousand miles away,
you cheered, got drunk, and slept,
in a cosy warm bed.

James Love

 

[woodstock]

To be perfectly honest I would rather forget than be constantly reminded of friends no longer with us, the truth of the matter is most service men and women are no more than canon fodder in any theatre of conflict

Just to reiterate I think most of us would rather forget I spent years with a Recce Trp and I have never been to a single reunion as I don't think its appropriate I think the sooner we put war behind us the better the world would be

 

[woodstock]

Thankyou.

Having seen active service and LOST mates. I still wake up, at times crying like the proverbial baby. The only way I have made it through my life to be here and now is massive love and support from my family and close friends. Even the Army were fantastic in my return to "normality". My wife puts up with so much from me but she does so with love and complete understanding.



You must have known what the score was when you signed on the dotted line unless your a moron no point crying after the event is there ,,,,,,if you cant deal with it don't join up simple as

 

[woodstock]

Thankyou.

Having seen active service and LOST mates. I still wake up, at times crying like the proverbial baby. The only way I have made it through my life to be here and now is massive love and support from my family and close friends. Even the Army were fantastic in my return to "normality". My wife puts up with so much from me but she does so with love and complete understanding.

I pray to almighty above that none of you see the red mist from your mate or that you hear that thwackk of the round hitting him in the chest. Unlike the hollywood jumping and flying bodies, he turns to you looking like someone has just smacked his backside and he falls to the ground like a sack of spuds.

I wear my poppy each year with the remembrance of those I drank with, served with and fought with and those still left out in the cold windy South Atlantic. I also wear it with massive pride to those that fell and lived through the WW1 & 2 and every other conflict since

FORGET IT YOU WERE A PAWN.............

 

[Shankly]

Woodstock - "You must have known what the score was when you signed on the dotted line unless your a moron no point crying after the event is there ,,,,,,if you cant deal with it don't join up simple as"


If only we all had the great gift of hindsight, I for one will never forget how I reacted when I was in theatre and the first missiles landed, I saw some chaps momentarily fall apart, but then no-one really knows how they will react when faced with their own mortality in full technicolor and stereo sound. Training is one thing, reality is something else. Everyone I know who has served, deals with all they have seen and done in completely different ways. That we are here to discuss the topic is surely something to celebrate, to waste whats left of our lives, when others have given theirs would truly compound the tragedy. So yes I will be wearing a poppy tomorrow - I normally end up buying about 8 over the course of a week... by the way, as so many here are ex-services, I was wondering how many of you have a "veterans" badge, its not something often publicised but it is free to nearly all ex-service folk, and something that can be worn on remebrance day if you so desire. - see link


http://www.veterans-uk.info/vets_badge/vets_badge.htm

Shankly

 

[groundhog]

Not seen any street sellers this year but I got mine in asda if anyone is still looking

 

[hiho]

got 2 enamel pins and one poppy leaf, rest fell off while out in the woods..