Poppy Watch

[Ulick]

All I see is a red x

I can see it, maybe it's just a photo from, say last year.
Or is it a recent photo?

No that's him on the telly today.

[dec]

Fcuk not that time already!

Yep, time to start whining about people wearing poppies.

[Saffrongael]

Fcuk not that time already!

Yep, time to start whining about people wearing poppies.

Nothing like going out of your way to get offended.

[theticklemister]

Gonna be a bit different in Liverpool this year compared to Shantallow in Derry!!!!lol!!

[Maguire01]

Fcuk not that time already!

Yep, time to start whining about people wearing poppies.

Nothing like going out of your way to get offended.

+1

[red hander]

Don't think it's a case of people being offended by the poppy, think it's a case of people being offended by people who wear poppies being offended by people who don't wear poppies... Which is ironic cos people who wear poppies tell us at the drop of a hat that they are remembering people who fought against facism while behaving like facists because others don't want to wear a poppy. These people also tend to forget that the Nazis and Mussolini's crowd weren't the only facists...have they never heard of the British Empire? Yep, it's that time of year again, poor Donna Traynor...

[southdown]

I see Ryanair's Michael O'Leary wearing one on the telly this morning.

[Nally Stand]

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/view.m?id=15&gid=%2Fcommentisfree%2F2012%2Foct%2F16%2Ffirst-world-war-imperial-bloodbath&cat=commentisfree#.UJEBGx6I8WZ.facebook

[Hardy]

"Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier from the trenches, who died at the age of 111 in 2009."

These people get paid to write.

[brokencrossbar1]

A side effect of this time of year has been some excellent documentaries on BBC4 on WII.

A great programme on Churchill totally debunked him as the great war leader, referred to his failure in WWI and how he was too afraid to invade Europe via France as on D Day.  He preferred to attack the soft underbelly of Nazi Europe through North Africa and Italy losing tens of thousands of allied soldiers on the way.  Only forced into D Day by Stalin and Americans!

Also the Nazis, a warning from history is being re-run on BBC4.

Saw the one about Churchill, was excellent. I love the documentaries about WWII.

[Orior]

"Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier from the trenches, who died at the age of 111 in 2009."

These people get paid to write.

Good one Hardy. I actually did LOL.

[AZOffaly]

Any good podcasts? I love documentaries about WWI and WWII. WWI was scary shit. It was like a meat grinder for people. Gallipoli, The Somme, Ypres etc. The greatest war poem of all time must be In Flanders Fields.

In Flanders Fields
   
by John McCrae

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.


Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918) was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields".

Though various legends have developed as to the inspiration for the poem, the most commonly held belief is that McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields" on May 3 1915, the day after presiding over the funeral and burial of his friend Lieutenant Alex Helmer, who had been killed during the Second Battle of Ypres. The poem was written as he sat upon the back of a medical field ambulance near an advance dressing post at Essex Farm, just north of Ypres. The poppy, which was a central feature of the poem, grew in great numbers in the spoiled earth of the battlefields and cemeteries of Flanders. McCrae later discarded the poem, but it was saved by a fellow officer and sent in to Punch magazine, which published it later that year.

[Tony Baloney]

Any good podcasts? I love documentaries about WWI and WWII. WWI was scary shit. It was like a meat grinder for people. Gallipoli, The Somme, Ypres etc. The greatest war poem of all time must be In Flanders Fields.

In Flanders Fields
   
by John McCrae

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.


Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918) was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing the famous war memorial poem "In Flanders Fields".

Though various legends have developed as to the inspiration for the poem, the most commonly held belief is that McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields" on May 3 1915, the day after presiding over the funeral and burial of his friend Lieutenant Alex Helmer, who had been killed during the Second Battle of Ypres. The poem was written as he sat upon the back of a medical field ambulance near an advance dressing post at Essex Farm, just north of Ypres. The poppy, which was a central feature of the poem, grew in great numbers in the spoiled earth of the battlefields and cemeteries of Flanders. McCrae later discarded the poem, but it was saved by a fellow officer and sent in to Punch magazine, which published it later that year.

Dunno if these can be downloaded or not...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/collections/ww2/

[AZOffaly]

Cheers lads. Anyone downloading the 'Voices from World War I' series, uploaded by the British Imperial War Museums. It's a series of interviews from the archives, recorded with people who were obbviously elederly at the time of recording, but who could give eye witness accounts of things like going to the front, trench warfare, gas attacks, Ypres, Gallipoli, etc etc. The podcasts are short, but very poignant in my opinion. More so when you realise that all of these people are dead at this point, and at least their experiences and thoughts have been captured for posterity.

[IolarCoisCuain]

One of the weird things about World War I is that so many of the main combatants no longer exist. Imperial Russia fell, partly as a consequence of the war. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires fell. The British Empire won, but it's gone now. The Edwardians would not recognise their country now. No how, no way. Germany - well. Resilient bunch, the Germans.