How do you feel about poppy wearing?

Most years we get to Normandy, we always visit my husbands uncles grave.
He was killed in a famous battle a few miles from Caen.
The photograph is our little granddaughter visiting him for the first time.
I hope future generations of our family continue to pay their respects.

The WW1 & WW2 cemeteries are very special places and so beautifully kept by the Commonwealth War Graves Commision.

We once sat and had a picnic in a remote cemetery near Ypres I wasn’t sure at first if it was appropriate or not, it was so beautifully calm and peaceful, it felt right.

I wear a red poppy. My dogs have purple poppies on their collars this week, in commemoration of animals killed in service.
My red poppy is to commemorate those who died in wars, also to remember the sacrifices my parents and grandparents made in ww1 and 2.

It isn’t about glorifying war, it’s because we remember them

I think we are all in favour of peace, but to me the red poppy is not glorifying war, but remembering those who died or were injured. Sometimes wars are necessary, Ukraine is fighting one.

For anyone who has not visited the National Memorial Arboretum, I recommend it as a remarkable and very moving experience.

I could never not buy and wear a poppy. It’s been a fixture from childhood. The RBL do brilliant work and give support to all service and ex service people. Today I wore my poppy to remember the fallen in two world wars, but also in recent conflicts. I also wear a metal one which combines a poppy with the badge of my late husband’s regiment. He was a career soldier.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202211/medium-806156-2f7eaa2d-202b-4768-917a-2bdb9759d02b.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202211/medium-36538-fc36f5d6-7ecf-4dcc-b47f-355d11393399.png

Thought I’d post these - the most imposing metal statue of a First World War soldier at a minute past the first Armistice.

I give money to the British Legion all the year round and have a pin to mark this so do not wear a traditional poppy.

I agree with Aldom. Is it really asking too much to wear a little red flower and spend two minutes in silence when so many gave so much? In Flanders Fields is one of my favourite war poems.
* I think there’s a purple poppy to mark the loss of animals during wars.

grannyrebel7

Where can you buy a white poppy? I would wear both if I could get a white one as well. I remember one year someone in work was selling purple ones in remembrance of the animals killed in war. I haven't seen any of those since either.

You can buy them online from the Peace Pledge Union. Some shops sell them too. I’ve seen them in a bookshop.

I wear one in honour of my dear dad.

I always buy a poppy and wear it.
My Gran lost her younger brother 5 days before the Armistice aged 18. All the eldest boys of his brother and sisters had were called William.
Both my Granddads were in the Artillery one at Gallipoli and the other in Mesopotamia.
My father was at D-day in the Navy on landing craft. None of them talked about what they had seen. Though all were proud to have served. A friend of my DD was a Dr. in Afghanistan.
I buy my poppy to remember people who have given their lives in all wars. Also, the ones who survived with injuries they have to cope with for the rest of their lives. I don't buy it to glorify war.
When I read the poem in 'Flanders fields ', it is really moving and I can see why poppies are red

I wear a red poppy have done since a teenager and will continue to do so

I buy a red poppy and usually wear it in memory of family members, service members or not, who died during the war. How anyone can see doing something to remind us of how many people died in the fighting or remembering the dead as glorifying war puzzles me.
Until I read this, I thought a white poppy was just another poppy-an affectation for those who like to be different, so thanks for the information. But if you wear a poppy until and on Remembrance Sunday, it’s a remembrance poppy.
Why not have another day, or even another flower to remind us of the need for peace.

What you have got to remember is that poppy day isn't a national day of commemoration as much as a fund-raising event for a charity.

When is Poppy Day?

At this time of year I won’t leave the house without wearing a poppy. It’s very important to me and I have a monthly direct debit to the RBL. Tomorrow I will be at the local War memorial as usual. My grandfather went “over the top” at the Somme and my father was injured at the battle of Cassino. Thankfully they both survived but the mental and physical scars were always there. In my father’s case the rest of his life was a struggle. I wear the poppy to remember the sacrifices made so bravely and to be grateful for the peace we have enjoyed in this country since. My grandfather once told me that he truly thought that WW1 was the war to end all wars which gave him great comfort. The worst day of his life was seeing his son going to fight in WW2.

Where can you buy a white poppy? I would wear both if I could get a white one as well. I remember one year someone in work was selling purple ones in remembrance of the animals killed in war. I haven't seen any of those since either.

I remember as a girl at school asking why they didn’t sell white poppies to represent peace. I asked an innocent question I think the teacher gave me lines for being outspoken.
I do wear a poppy because people lose their lives at war including my family they deserve acknowledgment. If wearing a poppy is how we show it that’s fine by me I hope the money raised goes to good causes. I respect the armed forces and all they do to protect and serve us.

I wear a poppy to commemorate all who have lost their lives in conflicts, including members of my own family.

It’s a personal choice.

The real victims of war are not just the civilians who die, but obviously they are victims. But so are the soldiers who often had no choice but to join up because they were conscripted. Even if they weren’t conscripted, they were victims if they died. My grandmother lost two brothers in their early twenties in WW1 and my father lost a cousin in WW2. My father also fought in WW2 and was shot and injured in 1945 in the push by the allies into Germany. They were all victims.

For me, it's a personal thing, and we should all do what feels right to us personally regarding poppies.

I certainly 'remember' those who lost their lives fighting for our country, and those who survived but whose lives were ruined by it anyway, but I don't feel that wearing a poppy actually serves any purpose - I know what I feel and don't feel the need to wear something that shows that to others, but that is just me. Very much each to their own on this matter as far as I am concerned.

If I wore a poppy at all, which I don’t, it would be a white one. My brother wears a white one.

How was my post sanctimonious?
I was not trying to be morally superior.
I was responding to the OP.

Sago

Volver I tend to stay away from any threads you are on because you are so pedantic and argumentative.
Do you trawl the forums to just cause a bit of trouble?
Why can’t you just let it go?

No.

But when someone is being sanctimonious about how much they want to remember those who served, they should get the words right. Because its important. No more from me.

Volver I tend to stay away from any threads you are on because you are so pedantic and argumentative.
Do you trawl the forums to just cause a bit of trouble?
Why can’t you just let it go?

It’s little to ask to support the British Legion in memory of all those brave young men, can’t see why anyone could object.