White Poppy and Rememberance

What makes me sad is the rarely mentioned the children kidnapped from Israel and somewhere in Gaza, Ukrainian children still missing somewhere in Russia and many other children in other countries.

Anniebach

How can anyone think of the dead of wars as ‘dead soldiers’,
I am shocked even by you Gloryanny

They died / they were soldiers.
They were also my grandfather / your relatives.

When I started working on family trees I found photographs of graves and names on walls for families who had lost family members, they all had names, two were 16,

My granny’s first husband died in WW1 , she was 25 with 3 small children, she did marry again age 28 but died in childbirth age 31, I know from letters she loved her husband Arthur.

Simplistically, the First World War was mainly an attempt to reign in Germany's growing military power in Europe. It succeeded short-term but increased again under Hitler.

It is a pity that the women concerned about the 'increasing militarisation of the red poppy' did not choose a different symbol to represent peace. The red poppy, inspired by the iconic poem written by a serving Canadian doctor who died in a military hospital in 1918, was chosen to represent the hope, colour and reassurance it brought to those fighting in the desolate battlefields in Normandy, as it was the only living thing to survive.
Following the War, and subsequent wars, the money raised went directly to help those injured in combat and their dependents, and still does.
The money raised by white poppies goes to promote peace.
No reason, as someone said, not to buy and wear both.

I always connect red poppies with summer and picnics and meadows mine only grow in the garden in summer are they really an autumn / winter flower ?

Dee1012

Just my own opinion but for me it really doesn’t matter what colour poppy you choose to wear, or how or when you choose to wear one. While they are a symbol of remembrance and respect....you may even choose not to wear one, remembering and paying your respects in a different way instead, and that’s absolutely fine. It's the act of remembrance that matters however you choose to remember.

Exactly. Most people just wear a poppy of whatever colour as an act of remembrance without the need to mention it. Some don’t.

Anniebach

The red poppy is worn because of the many deaths in poppy fields, no one was buried beneath white poppies .

I agree Anniebach, I have numerous relatives buried in France and Flanders and the red poppies as you say grew there because they like rough soil. They were buried where they fought and died among the poppies and later reinterned in the war grave cemeteries.
My late mother visited her uncle's grave in Flanders and said the red poppies were everywhere.

I was too Annie, I think it was the photograph of the 'Kings Pilgrimage' in 1922, with George Vth looking at graves as far as the eye could see. The enormity of the losses was such as was difficult to comprehend! I think we have to remember German losses in both wars too. They were young men too and by no means were all wicked. My mother, despite her loss in WW2, was very emphatic about this to the point that in the interest of Peace and Reconciliation (Baptist Chapel) had a German girl to stay with us for two months in 1957. She and her family became lifelong friends, visiting regularly over the years. Hatred is a corrosive as we now sadly see on a daily basis.

Thank you Glorianny.

That sounds lovely Franbern. Well done to you all.

I've never seen white poppies on sale but if I had one would wear both. I'll have to be better organised next year and go on line.

You can buy white poppies here shop.ppu.org.uk/collections/frontpage

I would be a white poppy wearer if I could ever find out where to get them from
I want peace for everyone I don’t believe young men should automatically have to fight like the poor young men in Ukraine who were stopped from leaving no matter what they believed in I don’t want any of my grandchildren forced to fight for often things we have little understanding or control over There has to be other ways
Well done Franbern

Oh franbern your vigil yesterday does you so much credit.

I too can hear the children of Palestine crying, but no doubt like you I can also hear the cries of the Israelis and so many Jews all over the world who want an end to the suffering now.

Wrong, I remember names

Anniebach

How can anyone think of the dead of wars as ‘dead soldiers’,
I am shocked even by you Gloryanny

But Annie that is what the poem you posted advises. Be a soldier, fight on and if necessary die. And then others take up the fight. That is all you can remember them as, because that was what war did. It made them soldiers and they died. Not home with their loved ones but in mud, barbed wire and gunfire. That's what is on their tombstones their name and rank. Not beloved son, or husband or father because war robbed them of that. The women who created the white poppy saw that.

Glorianny

The White Poppy is worn because in 1933 members of the Cooperative Women's Guild, many of whom had lost men in WW1, were concerned about the increasing militarisation of the red poppy and so created a white poppy.
It stands for a belief in peace but also for all killed during wars. These days more civilians die than military personnel a very different situation than in WW1. I'm sure those men who died in that war, many of whom despised the argument for war would recognise the white poppy and echo Wilfred Owen

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.^

Thank you for this. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me what the gigantic mess and disaster that was the First World War was about. Never.

Millions died in the worst possible circumstances. All those young men sent to slaughter on all sides, and for what?

I always wear both poppies.

More combative than calling those buried in foreign fields -
dead soldiers’ ?

Those advocating that only red poppies should be worn do seem a lot more combative than the people that wear white poppies. Surely there should be respect for both, not twisting words to suit one point of view.

Just my own opinion but for me it really doesn’t matter what colour poppy you choose to wear, or how or when you choose to wear one. While they are a symbol of remembrance and respect....you may even choose not to wear one, remembering and paying your respects in a different way instead, and that’s absolutely fine. It's the act of remembrance that matters however you choose to remember.

How can anyone think of the dead of wars as ‘dead soldiers’,
I am shocked even by you Gloryanny

Anniebach

My thoughts yesterday were very much with the dead of WW1

As were the thoughts of the women when they created the white poppy. They were men they knew and loved. Their fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, not just dead soldiers.

Glorianny

The White Poppy is worn because in 1933 members of the Cooperative Women's Guild, many of whom had lost men in WW1, were concerned about the increasing militarisation of the red poppy and so created a white poppy.
It stands for a belief in peace but also for all killed during wars. These days more civilians die than military personnel a very different situation than in WW1. I'm sure those men who died in that war, many of whom despised the argument for war would recognise the white poppy and echo Wilfred Owen

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.^

That is why my grandmother and her sisters wore them.

My thoughts yesterday were very much with the dead of WW1

Anniebach

The red poppy is worn because of the many deaths in poppy fields, no one was buried beneath white poppies .

Absolutely

The White Poppy is worn because in 1933 members of the Cooperative Women's Guild, many of whom had lost men in WW1, were concerned about the increasing militarisation of the red poppy and so created a white poppy.
It stands for a belief in peace but also for all killed during wars. These days more civilians die than military personnel a very different situation than in WW1. I'm sure those men who died in that war, many of whom despised the argument for war would recognise the white poppy and echo Wilfred Owen

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.