British style poppy for November 11.

[Lallans]

This is not as new as you think. It was been on the news in the Maritimes for a couple of years now. It was started by a British group, the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933.

Frank

I had read that. At the time I was thinking that they should all wear white feathers instead of white poppies. My thought was that, nasty contrarians that they are, they would be the same sort of people who were handing out white feathers back in the day. I guess that I'm taking all this personally, on behalf of slain family members.

[Mike_Oettle]

The people who handed out white feathers often got it wrong, anyway.
A man my father knew well (they served as officers in the same regiment) had a glass eye (his name was Dennis), and every time he went to volunteer he failed his medical.
One day he was in a pharmacy waiting to be served while two female assistants chatted away, ignoring him. Eventually he asked: “What do I have to do to get some service here?”
And one of them turned to him and demanded: “Where’s your white feather, you coward?”
In response he took out his glass eye and placed it on the counter. The girl fainted.
After that he went again to sign up, and this time when asked to cover his right eye, he put up his right hand. Asked to cover his left eye, he put up his left hand – but the examiner didn’t notice that he was covering the same eye each time.
This time he was accepted. He went into uniform and eventually was sent on an officer cadet course. Nobody noticed his deformity until the night before the passing-out parade.
Then a group of army doctors (all drunk) decided late in the evening that it was time for a medical exam of all the candidates. One of them walked right up to Dennis and poked him in the eye with a pen – discovering that it was glass.
The medics were now in panic mode, because they had examined Dennis and not noticed this before. But after a long consultation with the other senior officers it was decided that because Dennis had managed to get this far without being discovered, he had earned the right to take part in the parade.
And that is how a man with a glass eye was an officer in the Royal Natal Carbineers.
Regards,
Mike

[BoldHighlander]

I guess that I'm taking all this personally, on behalf of slain family members.

I feel where your coming from my friend.

[Bill aka Mole]

Which makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. The red poppies, and Remembrance Day itself, is the biggest anti-war demonstration in Canada.

Absolutely! All of this is reminding me of CSA General Robert E. Lee
"It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it."

[Lallans]

I am pleased to announce that my wished-for British poppy has arrived by mail. It sits a treat in my green Balmoral (from Glengarry Hats dot com), and I'll wear it with pride all this week and especially on Remembrance Day (along with my Canadian one), thereby preserving the personal tradition.

And I want to once again thank everyone who so generously offered to mail me a poppy. Since the British version has proved so hard to obtain here in the colonies, I will try to ensure that the present one is around next year.

[O'Callaghan]

On the whole, I am against most wars. WW2 was well justified, but WW1 was one of the most pointless ever. Even then, I mean pointless in that it should not and need not have happened. Defence of our allies was still justified once it got that far. It just never should have. My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in the Somme, with horse drawn guns.

The best thing we can do in our current conflicts is get out. Nothing further can be served by remaining, and the Iraq invasion was based entirely on lies, or fiction at best, depending on how charitable one wishes to be.

I always wore a poppy until I emigrated to America over twenty years ago, but since I have been here I have never once seen one. I will try to seek out the American Legion. From the pics here theirs look a bit different, but that's not the point.

[ThistleDown]

I suggest caution here. Canuck of NI now has his poppy, the purpose of his thread, and any deviation from that purpose into areas leading to conflict between members will cause the thread to be closed.

Rex for the Staff

[BoldHighlander]

On a somewhat related note, I noticed in photos yesterday of the young stars of "Harry Potter" wearing red poppies...good for them!

Seeing Red: Why the 'Harry Potter' Stars Wore Red Flowers on the Red Carpet

While fans of the "Harry Potter" series headed to the Web on Thursday to catch the London red carpet premiere of the latest movie, others wondered why the actors wore matching red poppy boutonnieres...

Read more of the story here.

[tripleblessed]

Mike, I stayed in Rondebosch my first trip to SA, found the campus quite pretty and pleasant, don't
recall that building. I think I prefer it that way.

On topic, I always had poppies when small, very affected by the poem and the cemeteries, glad my
family members came home from WWI. Heavily damaged, but home. Don't see the poppies as much
anymore, and the last few haven't gotten out in it much, having buried my father (WWII) 11/11/05
at 11AM. That needs to change.

[macwilkin]

On the whole, I am against most wars. WW2 was well justified, but WW1 was one of the most pointless ever. Even then, I mean pointless in that it should not and need not have happened. Defence of our allies was still justified once it got that far. It just never should have. My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in the Somme, with horse drawn guns.

The best thing we can do in our current conflicts is get out. Nothing further can be served by remaining, and the Iraq invasion was based entirely on lies, or fiction at best, depending on how charitable one wishes to be.

I always wore a poppy until I emigrated to America over twenty years ago, but since I have been here I have never once seen one. I will try to seek out the American Legion. From the pics here theirs look a bit different, but that's not the point.

Some historians wouldn't agree with the more conventional wisdom about the pointlessness of the First World War:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwa...igins_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwa...tions_01.shtml

This isn't necessarily my opinion, but I do have my students read these articles as a counterpoint to the more traditional view of the "War to End All Wars". From the German perspective, Lt. Ernst Jünger's memoirs Storm of Steel also contradicts the views of Jünger's comrade, Eric Maria Remarque.

I'll shut up now. My point was not to enflame, but to provide an alternate viewpoint, one that I don't necessarily hold. As I tell my students, it's up to them as to whether they accept it or not.

T.