Thanks

thanks for this important thread.

Actually Gremmie, I think they were being pretty polite, given your posting. I think if you'd been within range I'd have belted you one, and I am not easy to anger. My first thought when I read your comment was "Oh my God", and then my blood pressure shot through the roof.

Hang your head in shame and be damn grateful that so many died for your freedom.

What he said.

I'm going to be on Parliament square Ottawa on Sunday morning. And I'll make sure my son is there with me.

So if some one doesn't know some thing or has a different opinion than yours,you hit them,no questions asked just wallop. I think thats a pretty narrow minded attitude that you have. It's a pity i wasn't in range because i would have taken great joy in punching you back even if you are a woman,but most definitly no lady....

Come on guys, don't pick this thread, of all threads, for a fight.
Startwin, read back through Gremmie"s posts i think he was genuinely (dare i say) ignorant of the whole remembrance thing, i don't think he meant to offend and he has shown some remorse for his comments. Although i do agree with him on the name calling, was pretty low.
Gremmie, please don't say you'd actually hit a woman, which again is pretty low.

We're getting off topic here ladies & gentlemen, perhaps we're forgetting what this thread is about. We have fought wars to defend freedom of speech, no matter how we may feel about certain views.

Some may seem less informed than others, with an open mind we can consider different points of view. Whatever the opinion, we have the freedom to express it. Let us be grateful for that and remember how it was won.

Yes i was "ignorant" of the facts pertaining to rememberance day,and i wasn't the only one on this forum judging by the PM's ive recieved. Hit a woman?? under normal circumstances never,same goes for a child. But this Startwin,yes and gladly,,for a woman who's only form of argument is violence deserve's nothing less,even if she's 60 some thing and retired. The poppy i bought today is now in the bin,not out of disrespect of what it symbolises but out of disgust to many of the bigots onthis thread,and of my self ,to stoop as low as they are.

Gremmie...take the poppy outta the bin. Forget about any views you have heard on here and wear it for your family members who fought in all the wars.
This is just an internet forum where all points of views can be aired. What you feel and remember in your heart is more important.

I think this fighting has reached ridiculous levels...only the Britsh could fall out over the Poppy.

You have a right to your own opinion, but so do others, you said sorry so I think the rest of us should accept it and move on.

I played in a brass band and remembrance Sunday was always the highlight of the year, with all the veterans marching along with all the young sea cadets etc. To see the old and young together for something puts aside a lot of differences for that one day.

When our first cornet played the last post it always made me cry and still does when I hear it.

I was never there but will never forget.

Ditto

Great thread Surrey Expat. Looks like some people have been educated along the way that is also good. For those who know what it is all about it seems impossible to comprehend that others don't but sometimes that happens unfortuneatly and we dont always know what we are doing things for. As a teacher I am making sure that the children know why we remember and celebrate important events even bonfire night where none of the children had even heard of Guy Fawkes!

I will certainly always remember both my grandfathers fought in the Second World War and both thankfully came through unharmed but they knew many who didn't. When I have children I will tell them the stories my grandfathers told me. One sad thing I will never forget was a few years ago before one of my grandads died he said to me "I thought we were fighting for a better Britain and look what has happened to it now". But I guess at the time they were fighting for that and they succeeded but at a great cost.

Thank you. Such a little thing to do, isn't it? Especially from our positions of safety and freedom. We are so fortunate that know little about war other than from news reports from far away. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of this month, while some of us pause to reflect - and others blithely go about their lives - some of the finest young people of this generation will be serving their countries in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. The poppy is a visible way of paying homage to them and all who went before.

In my own family the roll call includes my paternal grandmother's first husband who died at Gallipoli. She remarried in 1921 to a man who, coincidentally, had also fought at Gallipoli, multiply wounded by shrapnel fragments which remained in his body until his premature death (from complications related to those wounds) in 1955.

Their son (my father) served in the RAF from 1944-47 (in time for D-day etc.) and watched his best friend eject from a stricken plane only to be strafed as he parachuted down to earth over France.

I chose a career that took me into warzones as a non-combatant to bear witness. I pray neither of my sons will ever be exposed to the reality of war but if they have to stand up and be counted, that they will have the decency and courage to do the right thing.

Sorry, but hubby wont like it?