Brit Duers or anyone who knows...

[i have issues]

What is that red apple looking thingy some reporters on bbc wear on thier lapels?
(Edited for leaving out WORDS! Sheesh, I was on the phone while typing.)

[CanuckAmok]

1. That's Cromwell's Parliamentary Gourd.

God, the ignorance...

[FlashHarry]

2. It's a poppy.

On edit: they're worn in rememberance of the millions who died during WWI. These days, buying one for a pound helps support veterans.

[i have issues]

3. Really?

That's cool, why a poppy?

[FlashHarry]

4. In Flanders Fields...

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.


On edit: apparently, the poppy is the only flower that grows in uprooted earth--e.g. grave sites.

[CanuckAmok]

5. From the poem...

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/McCrae.html

I didn't realise the Poppy hasn't been adopted by the US--I thougfht it was a symbol beyond the Commonwealth.


In Flanders Fields
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.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The name of John McCrae (1872-1918) may seem out of place in the distinguished company of World War I poets, but he is remembered for what is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, "In Flanders Fields." He was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was then transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.

[i have issues]

6. Thanks All,

Saving the poem...sniff sniff.

[Swede]

7. Everyone is wearing one here in Canada!

I imagine all the Commonwealth countries do.

[Interrobang]

11. Not everyone...

I don't wear them anymore, because I don't believe in turning Remembrance Day into a huge spectacle like they do here. I think the way it's handled just glorifies war, and I don't like the idea.

[Swede]

14. My dad fought for your freedom to say that.

But you should never forget that.

[CanuckAmok]

17. Former CDN Soldier here...

...I understand your point, but don't agree with it.

When one goes the the Cenotaph, one isn't seeing the glorification of war, one is seeing the end product. Those who served are there, frail and old, and they are the lucky ones. They served to fight fascism, not some modern corporate war.

The Dead far outnumber those who remain. The ones who are left deserve our attention, our tribute, for at least one hour a year.

Even if you don't wear the Poppy, buy one and help support the Legion's fundraising. They don't advance the cause of war, they heal the effects of it.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. My Great-Grandad died on Remembrance Day. How unlucky is that?

So for me, the Poppy is for CSM Padraig MacAteer of the Irish Guards (i believe).

[Pert_UK]

8. Everyone wears poppies as a mark of respect for Remembrance Day

The whole country does a minute's silence on 11th hour of 11th day of 11th Month, marking the armistice in Europe (I think) when the Second World War ended.

Poppies grew on the battlefields and amongst the graves after the war ended.

Hmmmm....now I'm wondering whether it was the First World War, although to be honest Remembrance Day is when the UK remembers all its war dead.

P.

[ForrestGump]

9. In New Zealand and Australia the poppies are worn

on ANZAC Day, April 25 - the anniversary of the 1915 landing at Gallipoli.

[SOteric]

12. You're just a font of knowledge, Forrest

Is there no place so remote your employers will not send you?

[ForrestGump]

16. They're just trying to keep me away from them

Works for me, too!

Thanks, Ms Teric. :D

[FlashHarry]

10. I think it started in the early 1920s to remember WWI war dead

[BrotherBuzz]

15. Armistice Day was WW1 (well, the great war)

It was called Armistice day in the United States until after WW2 when it was changed to Vetrans day. As a kid, I remember old vetrans from the California vetrans home would sell orange paper poppies (California poppy) but I didn't make the conection to Armistice day because the California state flower is also a poppy. Hmmm, you can always learn something at DU.

on edit: someone posted that it was the American Legion that sold the poppies, but as a kid, I understood it was the vetrans from the California vetrans home in Yountville that made and sold them.

[Nihil]

19. The red poppy can be an emotive image

Yes, 11th November marks the Armistice at the end of WWI ("The Great
War for Civilisation").

The poppy fields aren't so much from the graves as from the
battlefield - poppy seeds can lie dormant for years then, when the
earth has been disturbed, suddenly burst into life again.

This produced the ironic beauty of a swathe of red flowers growing
over the broken battlefields where so much blood was shed.
The effect of such colour amongst the mud, dirt, death and decay
is powerful enough today; picture how it felt for the ones who
witnessed it first hand over eighty years ago.

Nihil

[lumpy]

13. Thw American Legion

used to sell them on Rememberance Day, paper poppies.

[GOPisEvil]

20. They still do.

I bought one from them last year.

[hussar]

21. Wear your poppy with pride

I will be attending college on Monday wearing my regimental blazer complete with poppy and medal ribbon and no doubt will be asked a thousand times "what's that for then?" in reference to the poppy.

Am a Brit in USA BTW


When the Country has been in need,
It has always been the soldier.

It is the soldier, not the newspaper,
who has given us the freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has given us the freedom to demostrate.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,
and serves under the flag.

It is the soldier, whose coffin is draped with the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.

And it is the soldier who is called upon
To defend our way of life.

Author Unknown