Lest we forget

[marthamoo]

I always wear a poppy at this time of year (I buy a new one too - don't save it from year to year!) but I have really noticed this year how few people are wearing them. And those who are are mostly elderly - I am one of the youngest people I have seen wearing one.

I was also shocked a couple of years ago when I happened to be in Manchester on Remembrance Day at how few people observed the two minutes' silence - most people just carried on with what they were doing.

So...how many MNers wear a poppy? Does it even matter these days? (I think it does, obviously!)

good point MM, they don't do them over here, I think they focus more on the war in the Pacific. Although hundreds of ANZACs were killed at Gallipoli.

My grandpa was in the trenches. Can't imagine what it must have been like

I bought one yesterday & do every year. ds was very interested in it, though I baulked at trying to explain it to a not quite 3 year old.

We did have a highly embarrasing experience last year though. In Sainsbury's during the 2 minute silence, everyone was observing it when the police arrived to nick a shoplifter. ds had been doing really well, I was working hard to keep him quiet & he started yelling "mama, mama, neee naaaw, neee naaawww".

We always wear poppies and always obsereve the two minutes silence today and on Remembrance sunday. It's the least we can do.

I'm normalli in work and our bell rings at 11 to signify the start of it. Most of the kids are respectful and quiet for 2 minutes although there are a few that won't be.
hoxtonchick

Perhaps it's because I am (just) old enough to have had relatives who were involved that it matters so much to me (it really does, I get very emotional about it).

My Mum's Dad was in the Home Guard - bless him, images of Dad's Army and he looked a bit like Clive Dunn too! Mum and Dad are currently tracing their family trees and they recently discovered that Grandad had a brother - Harold - who died at the Somme, aged 18. Grandad had never talked about him

My other Grandad was a really, truly hero - I maen, he was a plumber - but he joined the 6th Airborne Division and was one of the men who parachuted into France on D Day - he helped capture Pegasus Bridge. I only knew him as an old man (and to be honest, at 17 - which was how old I was when he died - I wasn't very impressed by the fact that he'd been in the war: thought it was irrelevent) and he never talked about the war - it's only now I can begin to see the significance of it all. And to imagine how Grandma must have felt - left in Britain with a small baby (my dad!) not knowing if he was even coming back.

When I see the Remembrance Sunday service on TV - and that little group of veterans which gets smaller and more frail every year - oh, I don't know: I find it all very moving.

thought you all might be interested in this story this

I always buy a poppy but haven't always worn it since having children. Without fail I cry when they play the Last Post after the silence because of the waste of human life & the potential of all the people killed.

(haven't worn it since haing children because the pin always seemed unsafe)

I try to wear one, but often lose it/forget it. However this year it is really important to me as my Grandad died in the summer. He fought during the war (as well as marrying my Grandma and having my Dad & uncle), and was on the beaches on D-Day. When he died, at the age of 86, I was able to think that he had had a totally worthwhile life because of what he had done during the war. We went to Normandy with him about 20 years ago and walked up the beach with him. A very moving experience that I am so glad I was a part of.

PS, ds maybe doesn't see the gravity of the situation - he was playing with his toy animals during the funeral, standing them up and pushing them over. When the vicar said "and Stan went up that beach, men falling in front of him, men falling behind, men falling to each side of him" At this point ds shouts out "uh-oh!"

dd2 has gone into school today wearing one moo. She was very specific about wearing it so she could remember the people who died in the wars. I haven't got one, but only because I haven't been outside for ages, so haven't been able to buy one.

I've got mine on.

SD - The Last Post makes me cry too.

I wear one with pride

and YES it does matter .. A LOT

My Grandad was in the war and never ever spoke about it when he got home. He was a gorgeous gentle giant. My father was born while he was fighting and never met his dad till he was three. He is also avery gentle giant. I love them both dearly and i hope my grandad is resting in peace and i thank him for everything he did x

My father fought through the 2nd world war as a major .. he met Mountbatten

I have a picture (that he brought me a couple of weeks ago) from the local newspaper of my Dad (he's 84) marching in a parade with 3 other old geezers, all beautifully suited and wearing their medals and bowler hats .. the heading is 'WAR heroes parade through the streets' .. EXACTLY

If it wasn't for my father's generation, the world would be a very different place

BTW .. he also let me wear his dress medals to school discos back in the 80's when it was fashionable .. I never realised what an honour that was

I always wear one, I always attend the service at our local war memorial and I find the last post really moving also. Both of my grandfathers fought in world war 2, My mum's Dad was a bit of a hero and saved himself and his mate from being killed.

But it's not just to remember soldiers from the 2 world wars, we still have soldiers out there doing their jobs today, and many since have lost their lives, giving the ultimate sacrafice.

The least we can do is remember them.

The Y2 children at my DD and DS's school take the poppies round the classes and collect the money in - both mine have bought one and will be wearing them for the rest of the week.

In my office life the majority of people wear them, young and old. I usually end up buying at least 2 or 3 each year 'cos I keep losing them.

It is important to remember those that died but also important to remember those that they left behind. Not just in the WWs but in all conflicts where there has been loss of life.

My DS aged 3 is proudly wearing his poppy and tells everyone its for the "sholders". We observe the two minute silence at work. I am very proud to wear my poppy - especially in the light of current circumstances.

I had just started a new thread without knowing of this one...

Just wanted to ask everyone to remember all our troops in Iraq today. A lot of them are parents of young children.

Wifeof

my Grandad was in First world war and then in HOME GUARD

my Grandpa was in MARINES

We use a stapler/staple on DS sweatshirt then the poppy will go through. It makes it safer than a safety pin.

DS went to sweet shop last weekend and chose to spend his pocket money on a poppy rather than sweets.

We are all wearing poppies down to dd's pushchair model.
Like you, Moo, I have rellies who were actively involved. My dad (80 next birthday, ds is fascinated with his ancientness) was at D-Day and nearly killed - life was saved by a German prisoner of war who kept up pressure on his chest wound until he was shipped out to hospital.
He was a reluctant conscript and did not talk about his harrowing war experiences for many years (threw uniform and campaign medals overboard on demob day ) but we all attended the 50th anniversary celebrations in Normandy and proudly saw him get his commemorative medal from the Prefect of Lower Normandy.
A few years later dad played an active role in locating the unattributed War Cemetery grave of his best friend in the Navy, killed in the same incident, and getting it re-dedicated. Norman Hannah only had a very elderly surviving sister, and she was very grateful.
Ds knows all about Norman and grandpa and has been adamant about wearing his poppy this week.

Moo, just saw your Pegasus Bridge message. We went there in 1994 to pay our respects. Packed with veterans (dad came ashore further west near Hermanville, so he had never seen the Cafe Gondree and the bridge before) and a very moving atmosphere.

We just had our 2 minutes of silence here at work. I sat here quietly and listened to people talking, papers crumpling, any typing on the computers.

Makes me soooo mad. These people have dies for our freedom. And these people can't even sit still for 2 minutes a year to remember them.

GRRRRR!

Uwila - it drives me insane too.

Unfortunately for me, ds3 was screeching his head off and I was 'shhhhh-ing' to try and settle him so didn't exactly get 2 mins silence (when do you with a 10 wk old baby?!).

I'm worried this tradition will die out as there doesn't seem to be as much emphasis on it nowadays - I could be wrong though.

My DH has a WWI website (which he spends way too much time on). A couple of years ago we went to visit a man named Harry Patch. He fought in WWI, at paschendale. He never discussed a word of his terrible experience until he turned 100, and then there was a BBC show on the survivors. HE was one of them. There are only 2 or 3 British WWI veterans still living. It was the coolest think to meet Harry. We took him out for lunch after meeting him. We sat down, I ordered diet coke, DH got a coke, and HArry ordered an ale... What a guy! He was very hard of hearing, but he was as sharp as a tack... at age one hundred and four! I think he is still alive.