to think children shouldn't play on a park's war memorial?

[OrdinaryGirl]

Just that really. We have a small park round the corner from us. In the middle is a beautiful memorial to the fallen - a column with little steps up to it and a statue of a running infantry soldier on top.

Yesterday three children were there with a lady, and they were chasing each other round the top step, and jumping over the poppy wreaths, occasionally stumbling and accidentally kicking them out of place. The lady was just watching them and smiling.

I felt really hot and uncomfortable as I don't even sit on the bottom step quietly to eat a sandwich, although a lot of people do. It felt like the children were being allowed to behave ignorantly and disrespectfully. I didn't know whether to say something.

I got to thinking - should these war memorials be treated as a special part of the park furniture? To be used and sat on and played on, because that's what the people in WW1 & WW2 who died believed they were fighting for - the right for people to get on living their lives peacefully.

Or should they be sacred, something you don't touch or sit on?

I'm inclined to the latter but would like to hear the thoughts of the hive mind, especially as we approach Remembrance Day.

So - AIBU?

t4nut - well aren't you unpleasant?

What a horrible attitude you have.

t4nut
Whilst a memorial may mean nothing to you personally, you should at least respect the fact that it may mean something to somebody else.

Everything Agnes said.

I think it's disrespectful and children should be taught not to climb or play on war memorials.

T4nut - lets hope your child never dies in conflict.

I'm sorry but no just no to playing on War Memorials.
Totally disrespectful to the people who died, their children and families they left behind. Both in the world wars, Falklands, Gulf, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and I'm sure there are other places young people have lost lifes fighting for our freedom. I'm guessing Syria will be next.

t4nut
What a disgusting attitude to have.

Those "tacky plastic flowers" are made by the Royal British Legion, who have been making them since 1921. They represent the words of Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian who became a Medical Officer. He wrote the following just after he attended causalities from the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. He died in France in May 1918.

"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."

From 1922 servicemen disabled during the First World War hand-made each of the poppies. Today the British Legion still make these "tacky plastic flowers" . This is from their website

"Today, The Royal British Legion Poppy Factory Ltd carries on the same work in modern premises in Richmond, Surrey, where 50 disabled ex-Servicemen are employed all year round in the manufacture of the 27 million Poppies, 113,000 Wreaths and 800,000 Remembrance Crosses for the 2010 Appeal. The first Poppy Appeal in 1921 raided £106,000. By 1978 the Appeal had reached over £3.5 million annually."

They are hardly "tacky plastic flowers". And I'm glad that the figures from the Royal British Legion show that t4nut's attitude is in the minority.

t4nut you're going out of your way to be offensive. How is that not being disrespectful?

Dp is a war veteran who lost many friends. He finds it upsetting and disrespectful when he sees kids and teens using a memorial as a playground

9/10 they are in a park. Use the park. The memorials should be treated the same as a grave. With respect.

Many men did not come home and have no graves. These memorials are the closest thing to a grave the families have.

So kids who do get "involved with the military" aren't very smart then t4nut?

Nice.

Just to add.

t4nut How would you feel if you went to the grave of a loved one and found a load of kids playing on it? Would you be happy if there were kids jumping on it and kicking flowers over and basically disrespecting the dead?

As I said in my other post, some of these people have no grave except at the bottom of the ocean many thousands of miles from here. Their families have nowhere to go to mourn their sons/husbands/fathers except a memorial where their names are engraved. Perhaps you should think about that before posting such fucking awfully goady comments.

Dp has never been the same since the Falklands War. None of them have. He lost too many friends, saw things no-one should see and suffered mental and physical injuries that both leave permanent scars.

We go to memorial services for every ship that was sunk throughout May each year. Without fail, every single one. Over 30 years on the widows and parents of the deceased are there, the children of the lost men. He stands side by side with his military Brothers to pay respects to the dead and the living. We go to the service in November too.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

So essentially your DC thinks people who join the military are stupid then?

I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

My village had a memorial park given by the Americans, not for the servicemen though mostly. For the children, mostly reception age, who died when an American bomber landed on the school.
When I was little the memorial stone was in the middle of the playground and we played on and around it and fully appreciated what it stood for.
In recent years it's been moved to a small memoriam garden slightly to one side of the children's play area. It's a quiet area and not one you'd allow your child to run around.

T4 is a troll says something "controversial" on every thread they post on. What a sad life they need having to attention seek online. Pathetic.

t4nut you do realise that a number of the young men killed in WWI and WWII were conscripts so didn't have a choice about being shot at.

t4nut you are free to make your (offensive ) comments because of the sacrifice of previous generations of men and women. Do you not acknowledge that?

you do realise that a number of the young men killed in WWI and WWII were conscripts so didn't have a choice about being shot at
Or that without their sacrifice our entire way of life would have been completely different.

Yeah, I've seen her being a twat before too Blanche

So you don't think ww2 soldiers that died protecting England from the atrocities of the Nazis was a noble sacrifice?