Poppies

[Stu in USA]

Do other countries wear poppies or something similar? Here in USA no-one wears them, although Nov 11th is a national holiday.

[NH]

In the UK, yes. November 11th being significant as the end of WW1. It may not be as significant in the US as they had a bit less involvement. Good on them.

[Stu in USA]

NH, November 11th is significant here, ie a national holiday unlike UK. However they don't wear poppies, so was wondering about other countries.

[kempie]

In the years immediately following The Great War, governments and the whole of society, had not accepted the responsibility for those incapacitated and left bereft as a result of war. In Britain, massive unemployment accentuated the problem.

Earl Haig, the British Commander-in-Chief, undertook the task of organising the Royal British Legion as a means of coping with the problems of hundreds and thousands of men who had served under him in battle.

In 1921, a group of widows of French ex-servicemen called on him at the British Legion Headquarters. They brought with them from France some poppies they had made, and suggested that they might be sold as a means of raising money to aid the distressed among those who were incapacitated as a result of the war.

The Red Poppy is certainly worn in other Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand for Remembrance Day.

[Stu in USA]

How about other European countries?

[kempie]

A bit more info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

[shaneystar2]

A bit less invovment NH ? In the summer of 1918 significant numbers of American troops arrived in Europe, and they started arriving at 10,000 men a day .
Thank goodness they did or we wouldn't all be here to tell the tale .And there are many of them laying in the fields of Flanders ....have a bit of respect for men who lay down their lives for what they believe in and I repeat "Wear your poppy with pride ".

[Clanad]

As Stu relates, 11/11 is still a national holiday, except that the name Armistice Day was changed to Veterans' Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. This was done to honor all veteran's, especially the ones from WWII. The day is still highlighted with the President attending the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery. In many small communties of the U.S., veteran's organizations still sell the paper poppies... at least here in the western U.S. They commorate the famous poem: In Flander's Fields...
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
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.

[jenstar]

Did you know that Scottish poppies are different to English ones? They're a bit better made and fancier. Compared to the Scottish poppy, the English one is rubbish. You sassenachs should be ashamed of yourselves with your cheap tacky poppies.

[shaneystar2]

Cheap and tacky has nothing to do with it ..it's a poppy ..and at the end of the day the money donated goes to a good cause. It's not a fashion statement.
I couldn't give a monkeys chuff if your Scottish poppies are better then our English ones.The men of the United Kingdom went to war ..not just the Scots or the English.

[Hammer Head]

Hear, hear, Shaneystar. It just goes to show that some people have completely missed the point of Remembrance Day and see it as just another opportunity to out-do the neighbours.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

my aunt,who lives in st louis,and is the president of the english club there,makes sure every year that poppies are sold and worn by as many people as she can get,mind you, shes been there 60 yrs now,married a gi after the war,last year she sold nearly 4 thousand,allways sends the cash to england.

[shammydodger]

No googling, chaps

Who can tell me who wrote the following lines:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them.

?

NO GOOGLING!

[shammydodger]

C'mon c'mon!

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and i nt he morning
We will remember them

Spoken every sodding year on November 11th. So who wrote these lines???

And no effing googling!!

[shaneystar2]

Laurence Binyon ..Shammy darling and I didn't need to Google !

[Stu in USA]

Thanks Clanad for the poem and for you and NTD letting me know that some people in the USA do wear poppies. But could someone please answer my question when they've answered shammydodgers!!!!!!

[shammydodger]

Well done Shaneystar.

I ask that question every year in the local pub quiz. I get rather annoyed at all the "Wilfred Owen" and "Seigfried Sassoon" and "Rupert Brooke" answers. From the same people, too! I know I shouldn't, but it rather grates that people recite it every year at this time, and yet few remember who actually wrote the lines.

But, to return to the salient point, we WILL remember them. God bless the lot of them. And I hope that things don't change once Henry Allingham shoulders arms. In my view, he should be given a state funeral. In fact, a petition ought to be started to that effect.

Sorry, Stu, I can't help you on your orginal question

[smudge]

jenstar - how disrespectful - a poppy is a poppy, no matter what it looks like - it still represents the same thing!

We wear our English poppies with pride & remember all the servicemen/women who fought & died for our Country in WW1, WW2 & all those since.

As I've mentioned before - my Grandad was killed in action in WW1& is buried in Ypres. He left a wife & young children, one of which was my Dad.

My other Grandad was injured fighting in WW2, but fortunately made it home to his wife & children, one of which was my Mum.

P.S. If we hadn't have had the Americana as our allies, I doubt very much if we'd be sitting here posting tonight.

[MustafaTickl]

"Oh! You who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet-to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With all who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valour led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy red
We wear in honour of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields".

[johnlambert]

I shall wear my (english) poppy with pride (im a Scot), alongside my campaign medals on Nov 12th at the Cenetaph in Leicester's Victoria Park if anyone cares to join me. I shall be thinking of my fallen comrades as the clock strikes 11 and for the following 2 minutes, please excuse me if you see a slight moistening in my eyes, they were great guys and I will NEVER forget them

[X111]

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.