To post this for the anti Poppy brigade?

[Jakebullet]

Just posted on Facebook by a poet friend of mine

The whistles could be heard
Along the trenches below
The young men weren't ready
But they had to go
Some held photos
Of loved ones back home
They charged together
Yet died alone
The bulkets n bombs
rang loud in their heads
Yet forward they ran
Running over the dead
A war against tyranny and for freedom they fought
A price was to be paid
Yet could never be bought
But their actions
Should be remembered
Even tho with regret
By wearing The Poppy
LEST WE FORGET

By Billy Isherwood

Love this poem......it's been in his head several days and this morning was finally written down.

YABU to use the term "anti poppy brigade". People can choose not to wear poppies for all sorts of good reasons, it does not mean they do not absolutely honour the war dead.

Don't think anyone is anti poppy is so because of the men in the trenches of the world wars.
Seems to be much more related to more recent wars/career soldiers/ horrible acts of more recent military, so I'm not sure if the poem really addresses any of the issues upon which people object.

Not saying I agree with them, but from those I've heard object I've never heard them do so based on principles related to the world wars.

I don think people should be made to feel guilty for not wearing a poppy.

Yabu

YANBU.

DS1 (18) has changed his shift at work tomorrow so he can go to the Remembrance service at the village church.

Don't*

The first world war was not a war against tyranny. It was a pointless bloody waste of millions of lives on both sides.

That poem is sentimental rubbish about war. And thank goodness we do live in a free country where people are able to make choices abput whether or not they wear a poppy. "anti poppy brigade" sounds rude and sneery.
I am happy to wear a poppy but will defend anyone's choice not to.
YABU

YABU. I have no issue with the conscripted men of the first and second world wars; they were under huge societal and personal pressure to fight and the conflicts were a direct threat to the security of the UK. Most people, including myself, object to the more modern interpretation of the poppy appeal which is the almost hero worshipping of career soldiers/sailors/pilots who have chosen to join the military knowing full well the risks, were under no pressure to do so and are fighting in conflicts I do not support and aren't a direct threat to me.
I wish no ill to modern soldiers but neither do I feel the need to wear a poppy for them. If there were a separate day just for the dead of the great wars (civilian and military) I would be happy to donate.

YABU to use the term anti poppy brigade (implying that no-one has then right to object to the political hijacking of the supposedly non-political poppy) and to imply that the only valid way of honouring the memory of the men used as cannon fodder by the ruling classes of Europe in 1914-18, is to go along with the militarism and hypocrisy of the imposed poppy wearing orthodoxy.

HTH.

YABU, for all the reasons mentioned above.

excellent post Basil

You all do know that if we didn't have men and women who join up voluntarily and selflessly, that you and I would have to do it?

I am grateful that they sign up, I wear my poppy to remember every single member of the Armed Forces who has died for this country.

Bubbles has summed up my views very well.

It seems a bit hypocritical to have marched in Stop The War marches, but then support the soldiers and families of those who chose to take part in those wars.

Are you aware that only about 50% of the money raised actually goes towards the families anyway? A massive percentage is used for admin and advertising.

I would much rather no one had gone to Iraq or Afghanistan. So would many of the Iraqis and Afghans. In my mind, the only reason to fight or go to war is if you country is at direct threat of invasion of full scale military attack and all diplomacy has failed. I can't think of a recent occasion where this has happened. If it ever does, I may rethink my stance on the modern armed forces.

It's ever so slightly ironic to complain about people who don't wear poppies, when the people those poppies are honouring were fighting to ensure people had the right to live their lives as they see fit.

YABVU and arrogant.

I wear a poppy in honour of the carnage of the first and second world wars.
I will wear a white poppy and a red poppy when I retire.
The white poppy is for peace and much derided, the same way that conscientious objectors were derided.

Do you know that Harry Patch made a pact with three of his fellow soldiers, not to kill anyone?

The poor buggers coming back from war injured have my sympathy and most of us think of them as heroes.
I think of them as poor bloody victims.
What are they fighting for?
Oil and minerals usually.

I apologise if this causes offence.

"join up voluntarily and selflessly, "

Not sure that soldiers sign up based on selfless motivations.

It's not compulsory to take part in any act of Remembrance, to wear a poppy (or to wear only one particular style), to give to any particular charity or to like/dislike any of the literature about war.

There are probably as many different views on what is important or unimportant as there are/were people who chose or were conscripted to follow the wishes of the Government of the time in using Armed force in pursuit of what the Government believed to be the national interest at that time.

What a pile of schmaltzy, sentimentalist crap that poem is.

And what everyone else said above.

I would wear a poppy for all the conscripted young men (and old men and women ) who were forced to take part in the first and Second World War.

However, I don't wear a poppy as I do not like the modern military aspect. I find the sight of it used in conjunction With Thr Help for Heroes campaign particularly offensive.