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Remember to Wear Your Poppy

rickvanr

rickvanr

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 10, 2002
3,259
13
Brockville
As Remembrance Day approaches this is a friendly reminder to wear your poppy.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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Remembrance Day: Why The Poppy?
http://www.canoe.ca/RemembranceDay/poppy.html
 
Here, here.
1-pray.gif
 
i got the day off , so 11:11 on the 11th day of the 11th month i will be here in silence remembering those that had fallen.
 

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EricNau said:
I've never heard of this...Is it a Canadian thing? If so, that would explain it.
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I had assumed it was only a UK thing, but it is good that other countries also commemorate this date.

I am wearing my poppy and would encourage everyone else to do so to remember those who have given their lives in all the armed conflicts over the last 80 years.
 
Kernow said:
I had assumed it was only a UK thing, but it is good that other countries also commemorate this date.

I am wearing my poppy and would encourage everyone else to do so to remember those who have given their lives in all the armed conflicts over the last 80 years.
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Funny, I've never heard the Poppy being related to Veteran's Day. In fact, at first I didn't make the connection between Veteran's Day and Remembrance day? To be honest, I thought the US was the only country with a Veteran's Day on Nov 11th. :eek:
I'll keep my eye out, see if I can see anybody wearing one. Is it supposed to be red?

Yesterday at my school we had a thing to commemorate Veterans, some of them were even teachers of mine. (One was a Navy Seal.) We even had a Black Hawk Helicopter.
In the US it's "Veteran's Day" meaning all those serving, or who have served. I'm thinking Remembrance Day would only be for those who died.
Either way I thank anyone who has served to make this a better, and safer world.
 
EricNau said:
I'll keep my eye out, see if I can see anybody wearing one. Is it supposed to be red?
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Normally yes. Historically in the UK, the small paper poppies that people wear were made by disabled war veterans to provide employment where they couldn't get other jobs.

I saw on the BBC news this morning that over 30 million poppies have been sold so far this year.
 
I once saw a soldier who had served in the Boer War (1899-1902, but you all knew that)! It was at the Royal Tournament and must have been the mid-late 70s. He was introduced by the 'MC' and took a bow. I believe he was a Chelsea Pensioner. And now there are hardly any WW1 soldiers left. It's no wonder we forget.

I remember reading a letter in one of the newspapers from a WW1 veteran who said the best depiction and most fitting comment he'd seen of the Great War was the final scenes in Blackadder 4.
 
MrSmith said:
And now there are hardly any WW1 soldiers left. It's no wonder we forget
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This year will probably be one of the last where we will have veterans of WWI present at the services. I believe that the last surviving person of the Battle of Jutland will lead the UK remembrance service at the Cenotaph today. For me it adds a further poignancy to the day.

MrSmith said:
I remember reading a letter in one of the newspapers from a WW1 veteran who said the best depiction and most fitting comment he'd seen of the Great War was the final scenes in Blackadder 4.
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It's strange but curiously fitting that a comedy show can more accurately portray what must have been a terrifying existence than who knows who many more serious films and dramas.
 
For those of you who are a bit confused by this, Remembrance Day (11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month) commemorates the time and date in 1918 that the armistice was signed to end World War I. It was supposed to be "the war to end all wars".

Remembrance Day is observed mainly in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (although other countries also observe it, perhaps using different names) and while its origins were WW I it now commemorates all wars.

New Zealand and Australia, while they observe Remembrance Day, place more emphasis on ANZAC day in May.

The "poppy" thing refers to the blood red poppies that grew on the battlefields in Flanders (and elsewhere) when nothing else would grow.
 
kiwi-in-uk said:
For those of you who are a bit confused by this, Remembrance Day (11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month) commemorates the time and date in 1918 that the armistice was signed to end World War I. It was supposed to be "the war to end all wars".

Remembrance Day is observed mainly in UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (although other countries also observe it, perhaps using different names) and while its origins were WW I it now commemorates all wars.

New Zealand and Australia, while they observe Remembrance Day, place more emphasis on ANZAC day in May.

The "poppy" thing refers to the blood red poppies that grew on the battlefields in Flanders (and elsewhere) when nothing else would grow.
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Just to add to what you said,the poppy is a strange plant if the ground is left undisturbed the seeds will remain as seeds,sometimes for up to one hundred years.Because of the disturbance caused by the death and destruction of WW1 areas were the poppy hadn't been seen for decades suddenly(relatively) bloomed with millions of them.As far as I'm aware all Commonwealth countries have the practice.There is also the white poppy which is the symbol of the peace movement and is to remember those who died on all sides in all wars.
 
candan9019 said:
I didn't know the UK had it too.
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Prince Charles was wearing one the entire time he was in the US.

Most people in the US really don't care about Veteran's Day, I would imagine. Just like Memorial Day and Labor Day...it might be another day off, and that is it. (though most people are working on Veteran's Day).
 
kiwi-in-uk said:
For those of you who are a bit confused by this,

The "poppy" thing refers to the blood red poppies that grew on the battlefields in Flanders (and elsewhere) when nothing else would grow.
Click to expand...

It's a good way to remember - and a good thing to be reminded.

Justa side note- as I read the thread I was thinking to myself; funny that the poppy can be used for remembering and forgetting.
 
mac-er said:
Prince Charles was wearing one the entire time he was in the US.

Most people in the US really don't care about Veteran's Day, I would imagine. Just like Memorial Day and Labor Day...it might be another day off, and that is it. (though most people are working on Veteran's Day).
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I don't know if I would say most people in the US don't really care about Veteran's Day, there are a lot of us who do. All of my grandfathers fought in wars and they have great feelings about today for fallen comrades, as do many families with members in armed service currently.
 
efoto said:
I don't know if I would say most people in the US don't really care about Veteran's Day, there are a lot of us who do.
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And unfortunetly, there are a lot of us who don't. I have to work, but if I wasn't, I wonder what I'd be doing. I always feel I should do something on these days (well, except Columbus Day... that's just a day to get some extra sleep), but I'm never sure what would be appropriate. Somehow a yellow ribbon and tiny plastic flag just don't seem like enough.
 
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