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Original poster

Where can I get a white poppy?

290 replies

Ellbell · 01/11/2006 01:27

Some time ago, I used to wear a white poppy (for peace) at this time of year. I haven't seen them for some years now. Does anyone know if they are still produced and where I can get one? Thanks

OP posts:
Panyanpickle77 · 09/11/2006 22:40

One day I will trael to Tunisia and visit the grave of my Great uncle. I will do this to honour my uncle, but mostly I will do this because my great grandmother could not. I have a son and it would break my heart to think he had gone to war and died alone, only for later generations to label his death as "futile". What could ever be futile in the death of anyone, letalone someone fighting for our freedom.

Fattymumma · 09/11/2006 22:40

no. im sure that different cultures will remember in their own way, im just saying that imo the poppy and rememberance is for all soldiers not just the British.

Heathcliffscathy · 09/11/2006 22:44

mrsaek...that is the horror of war imo. the waste. the loss. grief needs to make it about something, worth something. but in fact, it is waste and destruction and horror. that is what i remember on sunday.

Panyanpickle77 · 09/11/2006 22:54

My Great uncle told my grandad (his older brother) that he had joined up so that others didn't get conscripted(he was only 16 but managed to forge his papers).I am certain that he would not have seen his act as "waste and destruction and horror", rather bravery, selflesness and empathy for his fellow man.

suedonim · 09/11/2006 23:18

Sophable, Pegasus Bridge was where we started our day out. I expected it to be boring but it was far from that. We even met an old chap who'd fought in the battle for the bridge. He's from Essex (istr) and goes over there a lot and helps out, potters around etc.

It's odd that nowadays I hear much more talk about the two WW's than when I was a child. I was born in the mid 50's so WW2 would still have been a recent experience. Yet no one ever spoke about it, it was taboo. My dad didn't talk of it and I never heard anyone else's dad speak of it. I remember being v shocked at finding a book in the library with photos of concentration camps in and asking my mum to explain it to me. She just said it was something that had happened in the past, it was over and done with and not to think about it anymore. It certainly wasn't taught at school and in fact my knowledge of both WW's is lamentable whereas my children's is pretty extensive.

Fattymumma · 09/11/2006 23:26

the reason we know so much about the wars now is becasue the laws over secret information. i think most of the paperwork is kept secret for 50 years so its not been until relativly recently that we have found out much of what actually went on.

My Grandad would only ever speak of the "nice" stuff from the war. his friends, meeting other men from different sides etc. i know that he saw sme horrific stuff in Japan but he would never ever speak of it.
i think that many people would just shut out as much as possible as they wanted to protect us from the grapgic truth of war.

i actually think that the wars are not spoken about enough. maybe if kids were taught more about just what happens at war, just how terrible it really is then they would be a littel more respectfull of our older generations.

soapbox · 09/11/2006 23:29

Being discussed on Question Time right now

JoolsToo · 09/11/2006 23:36

yes wasn't that interesting soapbox.

Poppies grow best in disturbed soil and the summer following all those deaths in the fields a multitude of poppies erupted and that's part of the symbolism - the contrast.

well impressed with Malcolm I have to say.

Exservicewoman · 09/11/2006 23:43

I have only read some of the posts, and am completely and utterly amazed. How can anyone choose not to wear a red poppy? War is senseless but when terrible atrocities like the Holocaust occur, how can you just stand by and do nothing? I?m shaking my head in disbelief, are you saying you would just watch and say, ?There is nothing I can do, I?m a pacifist?.

I suggest you go to your local Cenotaph and watch the old vets (sadly fewer and fewer every year) and then afterwards go to your local Legion and actually talk to them. I would be surprised if you left without a tear in your eye and more understanding about the importance of the poppy.

As has already been pointed out, it not just about the WWs but all service people who have given their life, my dh lost several muckers in NI and Iraq (1st war) and I?ve lost some as well. I can tell you when I stand there at the Cenotaph with my DH and babies beside me, and my medals shinning, I think long and hard about my lost friends and the sacrifice of others. At the end of those 2 minutes the tears are streaming down my face and I REMEMBER!

As for glamorising war?.are you mad, have you ever been to a Remembrance Service?

southeastastra · 10/11/2006 09:24

3andnomore don't let dc's comments wind you up. my fil was in berlin and met tons of german soldiers and civillians (we have the photos) loads of them didn't want the war

DominiConnor · 10/11/2006 17:39

You're right. My family weren't in Berlin, they were just outside London, and relaised that the Germans were just having a bit of a laugh when they were nearly all killed by a V1.
No country can fight a major war without the support of the vast majority of it's population. That's what total war means. I'm sure some Germans were quite unhappy, but we do seem to only see that after the point at which they realised that not only were they going to lose, but they weren't going to be let of as lightly as afer WWI.

Where was the German resistance to Hitler ?

3andnomore · 10/11/2006 21:09

Excservice woman..what I tried to say is, that there isn't always that much choice you have...hm...I wonder what happened to anyone going against the flow...oh, yes they and their families also ended in concentration camps....now there is an option....
also...not being funny, but to all those that point the finger so harshly....hm...just lets talhk about colonies...and american friends..oh there is slavery...and atomic bomg-Hiroshima...there are still Kids born with bad Birth defects....not saying those were worse...just that weren't any better!

3andnomore · 10/11/2006 21:14

There was a fair bit of resistence some known...white rose...commonly known in germany...ended up killed by nazis...hm...sound of music is a true story....
honestly, when I was young I really could not understand why a nation could be this "disillusioned"...Brainwashing has something to answer for.....why do bin ladens people think that what they do is right and for good....

3andnomore · 10/11/2006 21:15

All I am saying is, that it's all to esy just to point the finger at all....but most soldiers went out for a war...not nazi convictions....

southeastastra · 10/11/2006 21:16

3andnomore my fil met germans, they didn't want a war as much as we didn't dc's comments are too easy to make with the gift of hindsight

3andnomore · 10/11/2006 21:19

I know I go on, lol...and do I wish history was diffrent...of course...but it isn't...but hey...just because you fight the war doesn't mean you behind it every step of the way, and soldiers on the frontline, am retty sure, did not know...like I said before noone could imagine or believe the truth...saying that, those that worked in those camps...yes, they knew exactly what was happening...again , though, the "good" ones tried to make life easier then it would have been and the vaddies deserve to burn in hell

southeastastra · 10/11/2006 21:33

honestly my fil was posted to berlin in 1945 he liked the people, even then they were like us! they didn't want it

3andnomore · 10/11/2006 21:45

I don't thin anyone really wants a war...ever...oh wouldn't it be nice if the nations leasers would be chosen by strenght not strategies, and would fight it out amongst themselfs..they get paid well enough, lol

DominiConnor · 11/11/2006 19:06

3AndNoMore's idea of German repression in WWII is rather rose tinted. There were very few Germans executed for resistance and again mostly after the point where he Junkers and their other aristocratic hangers on realised the gravity of their error.
But the conspirators against Hitler, were actually trusted henchmen who wanted to make a deal with the Allies to save their skins, not principled freedom fighters.
Yes, it can be tricky to decide between "freedom fighters" and terrorists, but 1940s Germans made that easier by haver very very few of either.

NotQuiteCockney · 11/11/2006 19:14

Ha, I was going off the idea of white poppies, but if DC is opposed, I'm back in favour of them ...

Mellowma · 11/11/2006 19:20

Message withdrawn

3andnomore · 11/11/2006 19:39

Hm...now, as a german my knowledge of slavery in america and my knowledge of collonies is not all up to date, I admit...we learned about it to some extend but not the whole extend....Holocaust/Nazis and WWII....is "chewed" through over and over, mainly because Germany feels massively guilty about what happened (and rightly so, we should, to some extend, and certainly it should never happen again)...but one must not forget, media wasn't such a big thing in those days...you can not compare it to what it could have been today, if it would happen now.....so, no, don't think german wore rose tinted glasses at all...neither am I...but that it was much easier to keep info...I mean...it isn't a joke...when those trains with the jews went not only the jews believed that they were just deported...as I said over and over again...how could anyone, unless working at the centre, have truely grasp the true horrors happening....the germans, yes, they did wrong, economy was low and Hitler used that, yes, there was a long term "hate" of jews, they were not exepted.....and all down to jealoussies, most jews are very intelligent and educated and are doing well...through no fault of their own....but then normal folks can be so gullible...come on we all read some news here or there, watch them and think...oh grrr what the effing hell is going on, only to realise later that the article was shaped in such way just to make us feel jus that way unless we would go deeper into it...Hitler was a great and class A manipulator...it's so weird, cos, gramataically he was a zero...so, if you read his speaches in german, they are complete tosh, but he certainly had the art to speak down too a t....which is half the making of any great manipulator

3andnomore · 11/11/2006 19:40

Dominiconnor....I asume you are either english or american, right....

NotQuiteCockney · 11/11/2006 19:52

Anti-semitism was pretty normal in those days. I'm sure I've read that boatloads of Jews were turned away by all the other countries and sent back to Germany . And certainly, until the US entered the war, the Nazi party was active in the US, without any legal problems.

3andnomore · 11/11/2006 20:00

NQC...did mention that below...i.e....most countries not being happy to take jews in unless they would pay for it, basically.....so, obvioulsy didn't really take in the seriousness of teh situation, nor was keen to take in "immigrnats" and asylum seekers...I suppose hence the laws now being the way they are!

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