Do you wear a poppy ?

[Stubby]

Grandad 2 world wars Dad in 1 . So yes . No question . Donate of course .

[Nick B]

I have a poppy sticker in my Van and put a donation in the box.

I dont wear one when working as I tend to lose them.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Slightly ironic that our troops are now fighting to eradicate the poppy.

[teepeeat]

Always support the boys and girls at the sharp end.

 

As for the politicians who send them out - we need to be a bit more wary about supporting them!

[born2trot]

I will get mine as usual. But not in October. Rememberance Day is an important day in the calendar, but I think it's watered down to a certain extent by wearing it for weeks on end. Only my opinion, each should do as they choose, I have a Help for Heroes band on all year round, subtle and meaningful.

 

I'm glad you posted this first Andy , because my feelings are the same in that they seem to be selling poppies earlier and earlier every year to such an extent it will lose its ' appeal ' so to speak .

I am also of the opinion the poppy represents the men and women who sacrificed themselves during the first world war... and possibly the second .

But can identify if it now represents all fallen soldiers , not a problem with that .

I wear my ' help for heroes ' band all year round to , again which i will always link with Afghanistan

[Gnarlyoak]

Here stateside the local American Legion or some other service organization offers Poppy's for a donation in front of the grocery stores. I wear mine every year, sadly at least in my community I see less and less every year. It is a pity that so few know about this point in time. I am not sure the public school system over here even teaches about

the number 11 and the year 1918. Private schools and military schools do remember and honor all of the injured and fallen.

easy-lift guy

 

That is a great shame ELG. It may surprise you as much as it surprised me that the first person to come up with the idea of distributing and wearing the poppy as an act of rememberance of the fallen was an American lady inspired by a poem written by a Canadian doctor who served in the trenches of WW1.

 

The idea was then taken up in Europe, first by a French woman to raise funds to look after children left orphaned by the war. Then in the UK the idea was taken up by Field Marshall Douglas Haig in 1921 when he set up the Royal British Legion to help look after wounded veterans who were unable to support themselves.

 

Here's the strory:-

""The first official poppy appeal was held 85 years ago in the UK. But when - and why - was the first poppy sold?

 

The red poppy worn around the world in remembrance of battlefield deaths has nothing to do with the blood shed in the brutal clashes of World War I.

 

Instead it symbolizes the wild flowers that were the first plants to grow in the churned-up soil of soldiers' graves in Belgium and northern France. Little else could grow in the blasted soil that became rich in lime from the rubble.

 

Their paper-thin red petals were the first signs of life and renewal, and in 1915 inspired Canadian doctor John McCrae to pen perhaps the most famous wartime poem:

 

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row... “

 

It was this poem which inspired an American war secretary to sell the first poppies to raise money for ex-soldiers.

 

Two days before the Armistice was declared at 11am on 11 November 1918, Moina Michael was working in the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries' headquarters during its annual conference in New York.

While flipping through a copy of Ladies Home Journal, she came across McCrae's poem, and was so moved that she vowed to always wear a red poppy in remembrance.

 

That same day she was given $10 by the conference delegates in thanks for her hard work, which she spent on 25 silk poppies. Returning to the office with one pinned to her coat, she distributed the rest amongst the delegates.

 

Since this group had given her the money with which to buy the flowers, Ms Michael saw this as the first sale of memorial poppies. She then threw her efforts into campaigning to get the poppy adopted as a national remembrance symbol.

 

Two years later, the National American Legion's conference proclaimed the poppy as such. Among those at the conference was Madame E Guerin, from France, who saw poppy sales as a way to raise money for children in war-ravaged areas of France.

 

Having organised the sale of millions of poppies made by French widows in the United States, in 1921 she sent her poppy sellers to London.

 

Field Marshall Douglas Haig, a senior commander during WWI and a founder of the Royal British Legion, was sold on the idea (as were veterans' groups in Canada, Australia and New Zealand).

 

So that autumn, the newly-established legion sold its first remembrance poppies. And so the tradition began.""

 

Today the poppy appeal is still as important and relevant, not just as an act of rememberance of the sacrifices made by British and Comonwealth troops in the 2 World Wars, but to acknowledge the committment and sacrifices that are still being made by British troops in all conflicts since 1945 right up to the present day. The Royal British continue to help and support the veterans and their families of all British armed forces past and present, so it is equally important that we as citizens continue to support them in their efforts, to donate and wear our poppies with humility and pride.

[penfold]

I wear a H4H wristband all year apart from when the poppy appeal is launched and i then wear a poppy appeal wristband which is available from the Royal British Legion.

[Scott Walker]

Just got mine.