To have been 32 and cycling through poppy fields in France before the penny fucking dropped!

[NeverGhoul]

There I am pedalling along this summer through poppy fields in northern France when I had a sort of moment of clarity re: the whole wearing a poppy thing. I never got the link til then. Only took 32 years.

AIBU or just a bit dim and unquestioning?

Dim

Not a Blackadder fan then?

errr, not unreasonable, just a bit unquestioning.

A poem for you

www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm

Did you go to school?

I am truly dim.

I actually said out loud, "Aaaaaaaaaah, right, now i get it"

TWAT.
hated brownies

You mean you didn't have any idea why people wear a red poppy around remembrance day?

That is surprising.

i'm not even stupid. i really have no excuse.

What did you think though? I mean before the penny dropped?

i knew what the poppy signified ie, to remember the lives lost in the war. but hadn't realised why the poppy, nor had i questioned it.
surprised myself.

Just asked the 14, 11 and 10 year olds in the room. The 11 year old got it right - embarrisingly the 14 year old (my own DD1) who went to the war graves in June took a while to click!

ok, i really am not the worlds fountain of knowledge on the war although do pretty well on 1940s fashion and the home front.
So, when i sat and ate my sandwiches in Ypres it really was all totally wasted on me.

i am rather fast on my bike though if that's any consolation.

I think that sometimes we just don't think about what surrounds us, we just accept it.

I have lots of these sorts of moments, normally to do with words, e.g. I'll suddenly say 'Oh it's called a, polar bear, because it lives on the south pole' etc.

I'm not a stupid person (have a 1st class degree from decent uni), but just don't necessarily think about everything I see / hear. I just take things at face value.

DH does tend to shake head in despair when I come out with such things.

i'm totally with you fanjokazooie.
DH appears to know everything about the war though, but I quite like my books to not all have the same ending.

ooh, er, not that the war should have ended any other way.

To be fair, it's one thing to know about poppies from books and studying history, but another to see wide open poppy fields...

Just out of interest...
Er, why the poppy?
I've never questioned it either.
Think I should google instead and save myself the shame.

Why the poppy?

The poppy has a long association with Remembrance Day. But how did the distinctive red flower become such a potent symbol of our remembrance of the sacrifices made in past wars?

Scarlet corn poppies (popaver rhoeas) grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. The destruction brought by the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th Century transformed bare land into fields of blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War One raged through Europe's heart. Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the otherwise barren battlefields.

The significance of the poppy as a lasting memorial symbol to the fallen was realised by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy came to represent the immeasurable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World War One and later conflicts. It was adopted by The Royal British Legion as the symbol for their Poppy Appeal, in aid of those serving in the British Armed Forces, after its formation in 1921.

Cornfield flowers like poppies only grow on soil that has been disturbed or plouged.

That is why they grew on the fresh graves of dead soldiers and battle fields scarred by shell fire.

x-post

Ilovemydog, i think you're right, i'm a practical learner, reading something won't always register. Finding yourself surrounded by poppies got the cogs working and i was able to pedal along putting into perspective where in the world I actually was.

Gosh, just been reading up on it after looking at all these threads. I did know about the connection to the poppy and rememberance, but how sad it all is! All these young men who probably didn't want to go but probably had no choice.

My mum's friends's dad went to fight when he was 16 (he lied about his age). He realised what a mistake he made when he got there. He ended up getting shot (in the leg or the arm I think) and got to return home. When he was getting carried over the lines all the other soldiers were telling him he was a lucky bugger

Errm polar bears live at the north pole, not the south.