I was ashamed today that I didn't know the reason why they use a Poppy as a symbol of rememberance and apparently it is the only flower that grows on disturbed land and was first seen on the battle fields after the Napoleonic wars and again in the Battlefields of France after WW1.
Just before 11am today I was driving past a quite large war memorial near where I live and standing around the memorial was a large group of schoolchildren, only about 6/7 yrs old , all wearing poppies with their teachers. It was quite a moving scene ....
I am personally remembering my Grandfather, who I never knew, and died as a result of being in the Navy during WW2 and his ship being torpedoed.
When you read that poem and think of the context and sincerity behind it, it is very easy to feel more than a little upset.
Lady Rose - I've seen similar scenes to the one you described in previous years and it does tug at the heart strings. However I am still shocked at the numbers of people who can't be bothered to take 2 minutes out of their lives to remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice 8-) .
In memory of all the brave service men and women of HM Armed Forces who have died for our freedom, and for those who need the support of the funds raised through the poppy appeal.
My grandfather, who my mother and uncle never knew as he fell outside Caen on 17th July 1945 after landing in Normandy on D-Day. I'll be visiting his grave in France with my mum in July next year as she turns 70; not quite sure what to expect from that particular day.
Lady Rose - I've seen similar scenes to the one you described in previous years and it does tug at the heart strings. However I am still shocked at the numbers of people who can't be bothered to take 2 minutes out of their lives to remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice 8-) .
My daughters school has always been a very strong supporter of the poppy and Rememberance Sunday. The pupils are always encouraged to wear a poppy. They have a magnificant chapel and on Rememberance Sunday they always hold a service. This is followed by a drill display from the pupils ..... ( it is one of the few schools that still does drill and has a drill squad.My daughter has been in it many years) .... All the girls wear a poppy and they perform their routines but at the end, they form the school emblem, the music stops and each girl drops their poppy on thr floor were they stand. They then leave the hall and all thats left is the school emblem in the form of poppy's ... Always bring a tear to the eye .....
M5, my mother lost her father when she was 4 so never really knew him either. So sad that still today there are children growing up not knowing a parent because they died fighting in a war.
My grandfather fought in ww2 in N.Africa, Greece, Italy and France. His brother fought in Burma and throughout Indo-China. My father fought in Malaya, Suez and Borneo. I served in N.Ireland and Bosnia, but fought briefly in Kuwait during Dessert Storm. I felt cheated I never had a real war - but it soon came knocking and I got some serious field time in Afghanistan first time round, and then in Iraq right at the end of my service. We were all so lucky to escape without injury - especially my grandfather whose kit, support and long-term living conditions would have been worse than my father's and my own. My grandfather was issued with a button compass and a Fairburn & Sykes commando dagger, which my father then carried all through his service, and I then carried. I think they charmed, which is why I have just given them both to my neighbour's son who is off to Afghanistan in the next few weeks. God bless him, and bring him home safely... -{
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Grandfather: Albert Kazlauskas - Army - WWII
Aunt: Helen Kazlauskas - Nurse with the 95th General Hospital - WWII - wounded in action
Grandfather: Roy Burd - Merchant Marine -WWII
Uncle: James Burd - Army - (very nearly) Vietnam
Cousin: Molly Burd - Navy - Iraq
Cousin: Nate - Army 101st Screaming Eagles - Afghanistan
Cousin: Todd Monahan - Marines - Afghanistan and Iraq
and that only covers family. I have many friends and acquaintances in the Armed Services as well.
thank you all so very much for doing what you do (or did) for your country :x
While it's always appropriate to remember those who have served on the 11 day of the 11th month, at 11:11am, dont forget the service held at the cenotaph on Sunday. Over the years I have had the privaledge to walk with father amongst these servicemen as they march in honor of the fallen. If you are in the area make the effort....you won't be dissappointed.
My father served in WWII, hitting the Normandy beaches on dday + 7 and fought on to Berlin, ending his service in India on the Kyber pass.
My grandfather fought in both WWI and WWII, and survived to live into his 70s.
Both were proud to have served, but both recounted the horrors they and others faced, and both were particularly fond of this poem by WWI poet Wilfred Owen, which pointedly describes these horrors. I hope you won't mind my posting it.
Lest we forget.
Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
My daughters school has always been a very strong supporter of the poppy and Rememberance Sunday. The pupils are always encouraged to wear a poppy. They have a magnificant chapel and on Rememberance Sunday they always hold a service. This is followed by a drill display from the pupils ..... ( it is one of the few schools that still does drill and has a drill squad.My daughter has been in it many years) .... All the girls wear a poppy and they perform their routines but at the end, they form the school emblem, the music stops and each girl drops their poppy on thr floor were they stand. They then leave the hall and all thats left is the school emblem in the form of poppy's ... Always bring a tear to the eye .....
M5, my mother lost her father when she was 4 so never really knew him either. So sad that still today there are children growing up not knowing a parent because they died fighting in a war.
My son's school is very supportive too.
There was supposed to be a 'mufty' day on Friday - where the children could wear home clothes in exchange for something to go towards the Christmas bizaar.... anyway, we got a txt on Thursday to say that this was going to be cancelled.... I kinda knew why.... but I wanted to know if Oliver understood.
I asked him "why is home clothes cancelled tomorrow?" I asked....
"Because it's remebrance day mum, and it would be dis-respecful." - So I asked him if he knew why....
"becasue people died for us...and we need to remember them"
:x
My father and my grandfather, his Dad, and his father (and Uncle) would be v. proud.
Next year - which is a Sat - I would like to take him to London.... I went when I was his age... my Dad was still serving, and so we were able to attend the remebrance service. It's important for the next generation to know....
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
I studied Wildred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon at school for O level. Ashamed to say that I thought it was the most depressing boring, stuff I had come across at the time ( but I was 16). Needless to say I have a greater understanding of their work now ....
I studied Wildred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon at school for O level. Ashamed to say that I thought it was the most depressing boring, stuff I had come across at the time ( but I was 16). Needless to say I have a greater understanding of their work now ....
Wilde
Oxford, UKPosts: 621MI6 Agent
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Dedicated to the men and ladies that have served their country with pride (and its Allies), from WWI to present day. They must always be remembered:
Flower of the eternal sleep,
Watching with the ones who weep.
You, Whose lives, so short in bloom,
Saw such bloodshed, death and gloom.
You trembled to the sound of guns,
Which tore to death beloved sons.
You fluttered, died. Before your time -
Dropped blood red petals in there prime.
Crimson Poppies 'neath the clouds,
Short lived, yet colourful and proud;
Now worn by humans with such pride
Remembering those who bravely died.
You represent young lives cut short,
Those who, for freedom, bravely fought.
Flower of the eternal sleep,
Silently your vigil keep.
-Josie Whitehead.
I was ashamed today that I didn't know the reason why they use a Poppy as a symbol of rememberance and apparently it is the only flower that grows on disturbed land and was first seen on the battle fields after the Napoleonic wars and again in the Battlefields of France after WW1.
Just before 11am today I was driving past a quite large war memorial near where I live and standing around the memorial was a large group of schoolchildren, only about 6/7 yrs old , all wearing poppies with their teachers. It was quite a moving scene ....
I am personally remembering my Grandfather, who I never knew, and died as a result of being in the Navy during WW2 and his ship being torpedoed.
Lady Rose - I've seen similar scenes to the one you described in previous years and it does tug at the heart strings. However I am still shocked at the numbers of people who can't be bothered to take 2 minutes out of their lives to remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice 8-) .
My grandfather, who my mother and uncle never knew as he fell outside Caen on 17th July 1945 after landing in Normandy on D-Day. I'll be visiting his grave in France with my mum in July next year as she turns 70; not quite sure what to expect from that particular day.
My daughters school has always been a very strong supporter of the poppy and Rememberance Sunday. The pupils are always encouraged to wear a poppy. They have a magnificant chapel and on Rememberance Sunday they always hold a service. This is followed by a drill display from the pupils ..... ( it is one of the few schools that still does drill and has a drill squad.My daughter has been in it many years) .... All the girls wear a poppy and they perform their routines but at the end, they form the school emblem, the music stops and each girl drops their poppy on thr floor were they stand. They then leave the hall and all thats left is the school emblem in the form of poppy's ... Always bring a tear to the eye .....
M5, my mother lost her father when she was 4 so never really knew him either. So sad that still today there are children growing up not knowing a parent because they died fighting in a war.
http://apbateman.com
Aunt: Helen Kazlauskas - Nurse with the 95th General Hospital - WWII - wounded in action
Grandfather: Roy Burd - Merchant Marine -WWII
Uncle: James Burd - Army - (very nearly) Vietnam
Cousin: Molly Burd - Navy - Iraq
Cousin: Nate - Army 101st Screaming Eagles - Afghanistan
Cousin: Todd Monahan - Marines - Afghanistan and Iraq
and that only covers family. I have many friends and acquaintances in the Armed Services as well.
thank you all so very much for doing what you do (or did) for your country :x
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
My father served in WWII, hitting the Normandy beaches on dday + 7 and fought on to Berlin, ending his service in India on the Kyber pass.
My grandfather fought in both WWI and WWII, and survived to live into his 70s.
Both were proud to have served, but both recounted the horrors they and others faced, and both were particularly fond of this poem by WWI poet Wilfred Owen, which pointedly describes these horrors. I hope you won't mind my posting it.
Lest we forget.
Wilfred Owen
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
My son's school is very supportive too.
There was supposed to be a 'mufty' day on Friday - where the children could wear home clothes in exchange for something to go towards the Christmas bizaar.... anyway, we got a txt on Thursday to say that this was going to be cancelled.... I kinda knew why.... but I wanted to know if Oliver understood.
I asked him "why is home clothes cancelled tomorrow?" I asked....
"Because it's remebrance day mum, and it would be dis-respecful." - So I asked him if he knew why....
"becasue people died for us...and we need to remember them"
:x
My father and my grandfather, his Dad, and his father (and Uncle) would be v. proud.
Next year - which is a Sat - I would like to take him to London.... I went when I was his age... my Dad was still serving, and so we were able to attend the remebrance service. It's important for the next generation to know....
I studied Wildred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon at school for O level. Ashamed to say that I thought it was the most depressing boring, stuff I had come across at the time ( but I was 16). Needless to say I have a greater understanding of their work now ....
-{