why do you wear a poppy?

[oiolehnvn]

Lots of red poppies around us at the moment. Disclaimer I am not British but come from a country that is currently waging a war, in fact technically two countries that have been in the news for waging wars and have always been uncomfortable with people supporting or celebrating our army. I am therefore puzzled as to why the Brits wear poppies ever year. If you choose to wear one, what's your rationale? Equally, if you do not - what's yours?

A brilliant poet and artist.

Really? You can’t understand grief and need unless it’s actually yours?

I wear a poppy as my great Uncle died in WW1. He's buried in France. He was 17 years old. A child. He signed up at 16 and lied about his age. My poppy is for all allied soldiers who defended our freedom.

OP, you have used the words 'celebration' and 'celebrate' and I think it's really important to note that remembrance is not about celebration at all. It is not a happy thing, nor is it about glory or pride in my opinion.

It is a day for reflection. Gratitude to those who fought for our freedoms, yes, but mainly a deep sense of sorrow at all the lives that were lost or blighted in the world wars. Lest we forget and never again.

I just don’t do empty insincere virtue-signalling in general. It’s not restricted to poppies.

The red poppy is a graphic representation of bloodshed. That is the essence of war, blood shed and lives lost. The white poppy signifies nothing. Neither does the purple one, or any other colour of the sodding rainbow people choose to invoke.

Purple is for animals who have served in war.
I am not sure why purple was chosen. I will have a Google....

I wear mine for my paternal grandad who along with his unit died in Belgium in WWI, he was only 24. Left a widow and two tiny children.

I wear mine for my Dad who was part of 'The Forgotten Army' fighting the Japanese in the jungles of Burma in WWII. Thankfully he came home safe and sound, when thousands of young men did not.

Sorry, yes I did know about the purple poppy, my point was that the red poppy does the job for everyone. Animals did lose their lives, they don’t need a special coloured poppy though.

@Ohpleeeease so it seems Animal Aid started selling purple poppies for remembrance of animals in war in 2006. I don't know why they chose purple.
They sold them until 2015 then changed to a purple paw print.
The purple poppy since 2016 has been sold on behalf of Murphy's Army a charity that supports working animals (not just military).
There also seems to have been a separate charity that sold purple poppies to raise money for a statue representing a "War Horse".

It's a way of raising money for animal charities though.

But for it to be insincere you would have to fail to understand the loss of so many young lives. Can you really not do that just because none of them were directly relevant to you?

I can completely understand and sympathise with those who wear a poppy. My family is not British, although I am and was born here, and I usually do not wear one.

I now do wear one because I got shamed by colleagues at my workplace for not wearing one for the last few years. So in honesty, I wear one because I feel I have to.

I personally think wearing a poppy is a personal choice and I don't judge anyone either way for wearing or not wearing one. But others clearly feel differently.

I’m a veteran. From a long line of family in the military (both sets of grandparents, all branches of the military). I have a cousin serving currently and my DS might go that route too.

It’s an act of remembrance. It’s also supposed to be a nod to “never again”

Despite having lots of Poppies I buy something different every year. It’s a donation to help past, present and future veterans and their families.

All veterans want war to end and never be a thing again.

I will remember them.

When I started work there were 2 old guys who ran the cash office (I say old, they were younger than I am now, but I was a teenager)

Anzio and Normandy Beaches. One of them was very involved with the British Legion. I asked him once what it was like on D Day (like teenagers who ask stupid questions do) and he said it was difficult, so many lost and then his eyes filled with tears and he said "But it was nothing like as bad as the American beaches, those poor lads".

Never forgotten that, or his cash office comrade who had his first cigarette put into his shaking teenage hand while waiting to go ashore at Anzio and being shelled. He tried so hard to give up but said he got flashbacks without the cigs.

Two lovely men who I'm sure saw themselves as the lucky ones. This stuff was real and that is what we shouldn't forget.

@SundaySunday3 . I'm going to say this too. You are doing nothing for the PPU, a perfectly valid organisation, by spreading untruths about the RBL.

Wear a poppy, don't wear a poppy (of any hue) it is a personal choice and noone should be judged for buying one or not. However, saying that the RBL is a branch of the military and funding wars is just plain wrong.

Your tone is bordering on the offensive. On top of which you don’t seem to be exercising the virtues of tolerance and forebearance for which those soldiers died.

Which is a very good thing. I rather wish they hadn’t used the poppy to do it but I fully applaud the sentiment. Thank you for the explanation, I’m glad to see it posted if it raises awareness.

I don’t wear a poppy because I have no family links with the military

If your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were born and lived in the UK, they will have had family members who served in war or lived through one or both world wars as civilians.

If they lived in a Commonwealth country, very likely there were men in the family who went to fight.

If they lived in Europe, they are likely to have experienced war and/or occupation.

It's very unlikely that no-one in your family was ever affected by war, and that can continue to have an impact over generations.

It’s not just veterans or ex-service personnel they support, but anyone currently serving too.

I think the problem for many is that it’s no longer the veterans of WW1 and (mostly) WW2 that they help. It’s soldiers who weren’t conscripted and who served in wars many people don’t support.

If it were just about remembrance of the sacrifice of the WW’s that would never be an issue for most people.

@Joeyontheshelf I am incredibly grateful for those who join the armed forces. Not because I think war is good but because we need to have a military and without those who choose to join up we would have conscription and I really wouldn't want that.
It's difficult really because many of the modern wars I often wonder why we ended up involved and feel angry about but then there's other wars where our military were involved in as peacekeepers (ie the Yugoslavian War in the 90s).

Yes, you are correct about current forces. I did say that earlier.
As for it not being conscription, and it being wars I don’t personally support, I’m able to understand that for some young people without advantages or exam success it can be one of the only ways they can build a career. And I can still be sad when lives are brought to an end prematurely.

Wife of a combat veteran and I agree 100% in all that you have said and the reasoning behind wearing poppies and supporting veterans, survivors and families

So Lee from Wherever who joined up at 16 and lost both legs in an IED when 20 odd shouldn't get any support from an organisation that supports veterans?

We've got a military, they don't make the decisions about where they go. Attack and criticise the politicians making those decisions, more than fair enough but don't suggest that the casualties of those decisions are somehow unworthy of help.

I wear one to remember the many members of my family wiped out in WWI - some family lines lost all males and we still have an incredibly small family.

Also to remember both my grandads who fought in WWII. One was part of the forgotten army and one was a Desert Rat. They were both lovely, caring men and it pisses me off that they fought for a country that’s in the state ours is in and hardly anyone seems to give a shit these days about what was sacrificed.