Poppy Kilt Pin

[O'Callaghan]

Had to get used to that, myself.

When I was a kid it was still called "Armistice Day" by people of my parents' generation.

I guess they changed it after we'd had enough wars that the end of WWI wasn't the most important thing in peoples' memories.

Whatever. It's a good day to stop, take stock of where we are, and remember the people who sacrificed (and who continue to sacrifice) on our behalf.

Well, in England we called it Armistice Day when it was celebrated on the 11th of November itself, and Remembrance Sunday after they moved it to the nearest Sunday. When it was still Armistice Day all the traffic stopped throughout the entire country during the two minutes of silence. Few people would credit that we ever did that now. Some may find it hard even to stop speaking for two minutes. Now, there is just two minutes of silence on the wrong day, while the Prime Minister lays the wreath at the Cenotaph.

One grandfather was in the Royal Artillery in France and Belgium in WW1, when the big guns were still pulled by horses, and had to be dismantled to be carried on several horse-drawn tenders (ETA: the guns had to be dismantled, not my grandfather!). He delivered artillery shells to the gun crews on horseback through the mud, and was field promoted to sergeant, even though he was drafted, no doubt because the NCOs above him were killed by the Germans. Oddly enough, his artillery battalion was attached to Irish infantry, but it is the other side of my family that is Irish.

The Irish side of my family include a long line of sailors, and my other grandfather spent WW1 as a merchant sailor on supply convoys in icy North Atlantic waters cold enough to risk frostbite, no doubt because going further South increased the risk of getting sunk by the Germans. OTOH, anyone who survived their vessel being sunk at that latitude would have frozen to death pretty quickly.

They both survived the War to End All Wars, but many did not.

[Paul]

Well, in England we called it Armistice Day when it was celebrated on the 11th of November itself, and Remembrance Sunday after they moved it to the nearest Sunday. When it was still Armistice Day all the traffic stopped throughout the entire country during the two minutes of silence. Few people would credit that we ever did that now. Some may find it hard even to stop speaking for two minutes. Now, there is just two minutes of silence on the wrong day, while the Prime Minister lays the wreath at the Cenotaph.

One grandfather was in the Royal Artillery in France and Belgium in WW1, when the big guns were still pulled by horses, and had to be dismantled to be carried on several horse-drawn tenders (ETA: the guns had to be dismantled, not my grandfather!). He delivered artillery shells to the gun crews on horseback through the mud, and was field promoted to sergeant, even though he was drafted, no doubt because the NCOs above him were killed by the Germans. Oddly enough, his artillery battalion was attached to Irish infantry, but it is the other side of my family that is Irish.

The Irish side of my family include a long line of sailors, and my other grandfather spent WW1 as a merchant sailor on supply convoys in icy North Atlantic waters cold enough to risk frostbite, no doubt because going further South increased the risk of getting sunk by the Germans. OTOH, anyone who survived their vessel being sunk at that latitude would have frozen to death pretty quickly.

They both survived the War to End All Wars, but many did not.

My grandfathers survived WWII but both died in later life of conditions obtained through being in poor conditions within the army in Europe. Both were of an Irish background but served in the A&SH - as they were both Glasgow-born.
My grandmothers both worked in amunitions factories in Glasgow during WWII.
To be honest - none of my grandparents seemed keen to wear a poppy. I'm unsure why but I don't think I saw any of them in one at all.