[Closed] Are you wearing a poppy? Why?

Is that a true story? If so, that's about the scummiest thing I've ever heard.

not right now, I'ts on my jacket at home . . .

Why? To honor our war heroes and donate to the charity that supports their cause.

Bought one. Not wearing it though.

I stand a bit on the fence on this.

No, but will go and put it on right now

I remember that story Woppit. It was an utter disgrace! Basically: Can you proles, after putting your lives on the line for us, kindly run along back to the frightful working class areas you came from. Safely out of sight. They want ****ing shooting!

I'm wearing a poppy. I've got a lot of friends in the forces, who between them have seen all manner of shit. But because of that, the world is a better place. They're a hell of a lot braver than me. Even if they are all slightly deranged

No but at risk of a flaming - i dont buy them but I do put the money in the tin and have a silence at the right time.

I hate the way they are on every TV presenter for weeks before hand just because they are expected to by the public.

Is that a true story?

The way I recall it, some residents complained about plans for a relatives unit but then [after lots of criticism] failed to turn up for a meeting about it

No, it's on my other jumper and wanter to be in work early so I could leave early, so had a bit of a bleary eyed start to the day.

I've got one. My Dad served in WW2, my grandad served in WW1. It's not about war, it's about respect and sacrifice.

Bought one, but predictably I've lost it. 😳

Doesn't really matter as I'm sat in an office on my own and only interacting with other people online.

Will be observing the 2 mins silence though (just called a client and asked them to nudge an 11:00am meeting to 11:05am).

I'm wearing a poppy. My son is not wearing one at school, his friend crys when he sees them because his bro is off to Afghanistan. He's finding it hard at the moment.

I put money into the pot but I don't wear one. I don't think that discussing the issues around why is suitable for today.

I wear a rememberance rubber armband, cuz I is like da yoof and that innit (38 yrs old)

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Yes I have one and I don't think I need to justify why I choose to wear one.

I'm wearing a poppy.
Dont agree with war but that does't mean i can't remember the people who gave up there lives for what they thought was right, and ultimately to protect the values, people and beliefs of their country.
War is the fault (perhaps not the right word but i like it) of governments, not young men/women who died for them.
And ive served in the forces.

yes, cos i have respect for people.

Yes - it's on my suit jacket. Why? For me it's to show older people that were directly affected by the WWs that we still appreciate what they did and went through. Yes I know it's not just about the WWs.

Always put money in the tin every time i see one around this time of year, but never feel the need to make sure my poppy is on where ever i go. My missus is in the forces and treats the terribly injured troops who eventually may go to Headley Court - they never seem mentioned on the news whenever a fatality from the same engagement is reported.

On my coat hanging on the back of chair. Dad was in the Royal Navy during WW2. During the 'Battle of the Atlantic' his ship was sunk by submarine.

used to wear a white one but you just get aggro for it so i dont bother now.
Travelling the battlefields and graveyards as a 16 year old was on of the the most significant events in my life and made me a pacifist.Such a waste of life..to see so many crosses and so many deaths then realise it was often just one days battle. I will never ever forget the sacrifice these people made.
Last post at the menin gate made 16 year old lads cry after a week of seeing all that - that what I think about mainly the sacrifice and the waste of generations
[b]They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.[/b]

Yep, it was on my suit jacket lapel and has now been transferred to the sleeve of my Hi-Viz coat as I'm off visiting customers.

Why? - as above it's about respect.

Respect.

There is one tucked in the light bracket on my bike helmet.

Dad was in the Royal Navy during WW2

I cannot begin to comprehend what it must have been like for a young man in the trenches over that last cold winter in 1944/45 (??), freezing cold, hungry, thirsty, unable to catch more than a few minutes sleep at a time. Every one of them more men than most of us could ever hope to be.

Would I/could I do it? I hope I would have the balls but I don't know.

I only wear one today. My grandfather was in the navy for 25 years and through WW2 plus a bit of action afterwards in asia. and have Friends in the forces now or have previously been.

It's a mark of respect.

pennine - which ship did your dad serve on?

Yes I do.

Im an ex serviceman, as was my father, and my grandfather. I wear it to remember those that paid the ultimate price, and are still doing so today.

My son wears one too.

He wants to join our armed services, im proud and scared for him.

Do always buy one or two as hopeless making the things stay on. Don't like being made to confirm to anything but in this instance the poppy appeal money, the show of respect (and I mean it) is for more important than my none conformist out look. Listened to an exellent radio 4 programme about the how the poppy appeal started, who benefits and who makes them.

ton - Member
yes, cos i have respect for people.

Just this.

Anobody who is willing to give up their life i have so much respect for.

That story the OP posted is just aweful! How can people justify an opinion like that.

Always wear one every year.

Lovely moment now, lots of people just stopped, standing still for a moment in their own little space, taking a couple of minutes to think. To remember. Very moving as ever.

Back inside to hear Planet Rock playing Jeff Beck's "Elegy for Dunkirk". A lovely tribute.

Thank you to all those, in whatever walk of life, gave their lives in war.

Age shall not weary them.

Yes

So we don't forget.

Yes of course, out of respect for those who served and to support the British Legion.
The sobering thought for me is how young many of the fallen were when many 18/19year olds biggest worry these days is where to go on their gap year :yah:
I hope that the stw-usuals can show a bit of respect today and let at least one thread stay as a genuine mark of respect to those who payed the highest price for their right to freedom

RIP all who fell in service of their country - whichever country it was and for whatever cause they fought they all left loved ones and friends behind.
That is what we really should remember (and respect) at this time, not the politics or the moralising but the losses felt and the prices paid.

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Father was serving in Korean war & Far East emergency.

Anyway, my reason for wearing one apart from my father & respect to all those that perished in wars.

We won!

It's on my uniform.

Thankfully I have not lost any friends yet, but I wear one to remember those that have.

Will, some people are just arseholes. Pure and simple.

I could never be in the armed forces, but I have massive respect for those that are.

Just attended the service at the company memorial. Quite moving

[url= http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/3087420831_d2965ffa29_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/3087420831_d2965ffa29_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/misterpeter/3087420831/ ]Memorial[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/misterpeter/ ]MisterPeter![/url], on Flickr (not my pic)

Does anyone think that the Remembrance becomes more intense, more poignant each year? Is this a media-driven thing, are we (as a nation) becoming more aware of it's significance or am I just getting older and understand the importance of it personally?

Does anyone think that the Remembrance becomes more intense, more poignant each year?

TBH - I don't know
I think most people, as they get older become more aware of what it means to them and more widely

Working from home on my own. Stood up and observed the 2 minute silence, as it's a matter of respect and a time for reflection. It doesn't matter whether there is anyone else there to join in with, or to see you do it.

Why? Out of empathy for all the human suffering of war, and the hope that one day we will have peace.

mastiles_fanylion - Member
Does anyone think that the Remembrance becomes more intense, more poignant each year?

I think as you mature you learn a different perspective on loss and sacrifice, the more you've had the more you appreciate what was lost by those who fell and their loved ones.

Yes, always wear one as a mark of respect for those who went.

Does anyone think that the Remembrance becomes more intense, more poignant each year?

In the last year or two the Great War has fallen out of living memory with the last veterans of the conflict dying off. Without their experience and their presence it is all too easy to consign such a day to the history books and move on.

I am normally pretty irreverant about most things but this is one thing that should be held in our national consciousness with the utmost pride and reflection. I am glad it is still a big deal, the less we remember about the horror of war, the more likely we are to revisit it.

Yes and proud to do so.

Why wouldn't you want to wear one, especially if you've made a donation?

I think as you mature you learn a different perspective on loss and sacrifice, the more you've had the more you appreciate what was lost by those who fell and their loved ones.

i donate and observe the silence, but dont usually wear a poppy

thats my choice, im free to make it because of the sacrifice of others.

My van is wearing mine right now! Shall stick it on my jacket when I go for a pootle on Saturday!

I generally wear one on my work clothes to remember me Grandad I never met. Shot down and killed over Dresden whilst getting the bastids, 2 weeks before the war ended.
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I wear one out of respect and to donate, also come from a forces background.

Grandfather was in Army WW2 lost his leg at El Alamein, Desert Rats.

Uncle was killed in the early 70's in the Army, R.Anglians.

Father served in Germany and various places, R.Sigs.

Wearing mine right now... I'm ex military, working with the military, training them before they go out to theatre. I've got friends out in theatre currently and I've had friends injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The friend injured in the 'stan lost both legs at the knee. His recovery and attitude is nothing short of incredible. I wear mine in honour of those that have sacrificed everything both past and present.

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George Leslie Stewart, Cpl., 2nd. Battalion, Scots Guards. Tank Commander, Guards Armoured Division. Killed in action near Falaise, Normandy, France - 6th. August 1944 - Buried in St. Charles De Percy Cemetery "Oh Valiant Heart - We will remember you."

[my 2p]

One of my grandparents served in the Royal Navy.

I give a donation but don't wear a poppy.

I don't really get why there's a need to advertise that I support the sentiment of the occasion. For me it's a personal thing.

[/my 2p]

Mine is at home ready to wear this weekend - it is a sticky back one so will fall off if I wore it today. Just after I bought it someone picked my wallet 🙁

I had a normal one but it didn't last.

My wife dropped hers in the pub and some little kid picked it up and ran off with it.

If so, that's about the scummiest thing I've ever heard.

here's another scummy story.

When my father was in hospital in Epsom just before he died there was another ex-2nd WW soldier opposite him - he was on his last legs as well but not quite so terminal.

He wanted to sell his home to pay for him to spend his last days in a residential hospice for veterans (in Surrey - I thought it was Starhurst but maybe not).

His son (and the son's wife) were all for it but his b1tch of a daughter was not, she wanted the proceeds of the house sale after the father had died.

This meant that the old guy was going to have to live out his last days in the ward with no-one with similair experiences to talk to(as my father didn't last too much longer), whereas in the hospice he would have been 'at-home'.

The daughter was married and her husband let her get away with it - I would have wanted to knock some sense into her - or review why it was I was married to her.

If possible you should go and see the Warhorse play at the NT (not the film that is just coming out).

It is extraordinary.

For peace.

Because the sad reality is that we have to fight for it.

No - and for reasons I don't fully understand...

Oddly, for a military family (Navy, Royal Dockyards, Army), my father's side of the family refused to support the Royal British Legion - and the position seems to have "stuck"

This rather strange attitude dates from Korea. Returning service personnel from Korea were largely ignored by the Legion (not sure if this was general, or just the local branch...?). It was a bit of a forgotten war, the Legion's membership and support base was centred on WW2 veterans - and it seems there was some disdain for the returning Korean veterans.

So, as I've been told it, in a very military town, many Korean veterans would not enter the British Legion, and them / their families refused to support the Legion.

In no way affects general attitude towards rememberance and the Forces. I'm surprised these attitudes have been passed down the subsequent generations - ignorance / stupidity on my part, or remembering both the WW2 veterans on my mother's side and the shunned Korean veterans on my father's side....

ETA - over the last 10 years there has been an obvious re-focusing to include the post WW2 servicemen.

Gave a donation but not wearing one after the recent Fifa debacle. Doubt the players wearing them would actually have made a donation, and given our PM waded into the argument despite actively being at war disgusted me.

Yup......i'm ex forces, a lot of my family are forces or ex forces and a considerable number of my friends are ex forces. I spend lot of my working week dealing with the after effects of ptsd on my clients. so yup, I wear one

It's an empty symbol to me. I don't need someone to tell me who to remember and when, it's something I think about quite a lot, and it's actually rather depressing we have to have a day dedicated to rememberence.

I remember the cost of war. The soldiers, airmen and sailors on all sides who gave their lives for the reasons of a few, civillians (of all sides) who were displaced or killed and the cities that were destroyed.

Currently no, and I've not donated either which is a lot crap of me. Can't actually recall having seen anybody selling them this year, which is strange, then again I've not actually been out and about in daylight for the last week (working from home, then spending long days on site). Excuses either way.

There's plenty of reasons to wear one. Mostly to remember those who died so we could be where we are today. Sad that we don't seem to have learned as much as we could from (their) previous experience.

Thanks to the various STWers who've posted across the last few days to kick the lazy & forgetful amongst us into taking a moment out to remember.

Yep, out of respect.

I came across a website once that had listings of all the WW1 & 2 war cemetries. It also listed the soldiers ages when they died etc. I was in tear reading it. some of them 15 and 16 year old giving there lives.

Makes you think.

I used to have a book which was made up from bits of diaries soldiers had kept from WW1. German, English Russian. It is a brilliant book but cannot for the life of me remember what it is called.

mastiles_fanylion - Member
Does anyone think that the Remembrance becomes more intense, more poignant each year? Is this a media-driven thing, are we (as a nation) becoming more aware of it's significance or am I just getting older and understand the importance of it personally?

I tend to the view that there is as with everything these days an element of media over indulgence, extreme media mawkishness for want a of a better description and as to the debate over wether or not those overpaid fairy football buffoons should wear them is a prime example and wtf has it to do with David Cameron in the commons?

So yes I've always worn one and I do attend Armistice day events when forced to by school or organised group do's that the kids attend, I've also got a lovely big plastic one that fronts the truck of total joy and goes on and off each year.

I've never been in the services myself but both my Father and Grandfather served in the 1st & 2nd wars and the Mrs comes from a military family, so I get the picture and these guys did give their all so that we could be free to squander that inheritance on CCTV surveillance, free cash to anyone in the world who wants it by simply showing up here, nothing for the relatives of those victims and nothing for any of them if their business failed as a result of the war.

Yes

Lest we forget

Also for Pte Matthew Adam Thornton, who worked here and died in Helmand earlier this week. RIP

Yes. To show some small gesture of respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, some of whom were little older than my children.

I wear one 'cos i'm really forgetful. 😳

I wear one, out of respect of all of those that where beaten by the clock.

I've buried a few good friends over the years, lost in various altercations and out of respect for them, and all, I wear one.

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I spent an absorbing two hours with this chap last night. He's 94 and I've known Bert for years.
This photo was taken by an american veteran also visiting the Normandy cemeteries in 2010.
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He had just found the grave of Charlie, his best friend from school days, who had been killed on D-Day. Bert survived the landing but had many scary moments thereafter.

Bought one and wear it on my uniform. My dad fought in WW2 and I never met a couple of my uncles who were merchies..
I also get to meet a lot of old soldiers etc through my job and I think they like to see younger generation outwardly paying their respect..
Don't buy all this glorious dead crap you see on war memorials though. I do think we need memorials to folk who have sacrificed their lives in war but that sorta stuff annoys me. In fairness it's mostly WW1 memorials that seem to use that sort of language..

I don't need someone to tell me who to remember and when, it's something I think about quite a lot, and it's actually rather depressing we have to have a day dedicated to rememberence.

If we never had an event like this, the memory would probably die over the generations. My eldest child is 5 and they sell poppies in his school. If they didn't, I would never have thought or taken the time to explain to him what they symbolise.

I've certainly grown more aware of the importance and significance over the years. I'm not sure I appreciated how horrific the wars were until I was older (and had kids).