Rememberance Day 9th. November.

iceage

Gonna tread carefully here guys, We all know the numbers of Irish that fought and died in both WWI and WII in the British forces and now with the proper recognition for these men with the opening by President McAleese of the Mayo Peace Park in October of this year which was a long time coming, I'm curious how people here, in particular serving members and Ex Military feel about the wearing of poppies in rememberance of those fallen, also how do members of not just the Irish forces feel about this but those who have served elsewhere, France, US, etc.

With family who served and in some cases died I had no problems wearing a poppy in the UK but I had always thought that it would cause hassle if I chose to wear one here in Ireland. Now I'd like to believe that it could be recognised as a sign of respect and rememberance of the Irish that had fallen.

If not a red poppy, is there a green one? Again as I said at the beginning, this is not meant to incite or cause offence but I think that an honest and mature response will be hopefully put forward. Lastly this is absolutely not a political question, or a tool for dragging up the past. I'm

Hard Larry

TBH I wouldn't wear one just because of the political history behind what it symbolises. At least 3 of my distant relatives lost their lives in Flanders. I don't know what their motivations were for going to war...was it adventure, lack of cash or the promise of freedom....i'll never know their reasons. But at the time a lot of young men were, as usual, talked into going to war by a lot of old men and the promises they were given were never fulfilled.

I ain't no Shinner or Republican but I do believe in keeping your word when it comes to needlessly wasting thousands of lives for a cause.

To put another spin on it,I wouldn't wear a POW-MIA Patch on veterans day or an American Flag on July 4th or any other countries national colours on their national day or day of rememberance.

Thats just my 2 cents.

best of luck finding a Green Poppy but sure don't they have Purple Spuds now

iceage

Yeah, the green poppy! just a suggestion.

I wore a poppy last year, and was even present at a wreath laying ceremony in St.Stephan's green park. I do it because of the 1000's of good men who risked life and limb (for whatever reason) but were Irish. Now, I would never force it on anybody to wear a poppy, so others shouldn't try to force me not to wear one. I'm in Toronto this year and will wear one (if I can get my hands on one).

Sure people could call me a west-Brit and worse for wearing one. I know I'm Irish, I'm damn proud to be Irish and am even studying Irish in Canada of all places:D. Those people can jog on for all I care! If you wear it remember why you're wearing it.

Also, Remeberance is November 11th, not the 9th!!

Morpheus

If we are having our own remembrance ceremony's maybe we should introduce our own symbol if it will keep the peace?

Personally speaking I had a relative (from Balbriggan) who died on board HMS Monmouth in one of the opening naval battles off the coast of Chile and would have no problem wearing a poppy to remember him by.

Hard Larry

Just re-read my post, it does look a bit critical (to me anyway)

Don't get me wrong I think Rememberance Day is severely overlooked in Ireland and just because I personnally wouldn't wear a poppy doesn't mean I think it symbolises the incarnate of all evil. Britain does a fantastic job when it comes to rememberance Sunday and it is a shame Ireland hasn't got something on as grand a scale. Most of our ceremonial days amount to a short 10 second snippet on the evening news, the ceremonies at Arbour Hill and Kilmainham spring to mind.

I'm not 100% but I think there is a wreath laying ceremony in the Memorial Graveyard on Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin....there was definitely a ceremony there around ANZAC Day this year.

iceage

You are correct Ruledbyjames Rememberance Day falls on the 11th. Its usually celebrated the second Sunday of november, this year that falls on Sunday the 9th.

Morpheus I agree that there could be Irelands own symbol, I mentioned one earlier. You know I reckon there is somebody in Government who must be thinking along the sames lines, and all proceeds could go towards, I don't know, Irish Veterans I suppose or the widows of them. Or at least wreaths for the many monuments around the country, Just an Idea.

Hard Larry, I appreciate your honesty and you were in no way critical, everybody is entitled to their opinion. At least I was right about the response to the question here in this forum, I feared that there would be serious negativity but I believe that opinion has slightly changed, for the better, there is no doubt that these servicemen and women deserve some recognition in their own country.

Leadership

No brainer for me as I will have a poppy on, in fact I have benefitted from the British Legion as I nearly lost my leg on operations in Bosnia. They put me through a program that ensured firstly I would walk again and secondly able to run again to the point I even managed a couple of rugby matches. This was all private if they didn't then I would have been amputated.

Once it was clear my career was over they also put me through a program to retrain me in IT. It was £18,000 and was well spent as I now have a decent job, BTW I have put all if not more money back once I was back on my feet.

The program I went on with the British Legion had four other Irish lads on with 12 of us in the program.