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Poppies and rememberance

TheCatWoman

Do you wear a poppy and go to rememberance services?

I feel really ambivalent about them and it. I wish there was more focus on those who came/come back brokens. I say this as the Grandaughter of one of the "lions led by donkey's", my Grandda suffered from what we now know as PTSD, he sacrificed his sanity and the legacy still runs through our family to this day. Why do we not remember the sacrifice people like him made?

Parents
  • TheCatWoman said:
    Why do we not remember the sacrifice people like him made?

    I think when this idea of rememberance day came about back in 1919 there was no real appreciation for the survivors - they were a resource to be used and only the ones who paid the "ultimate price" with their lives needed to be remembered.

    I think it probably played into the glorification of war to encourage future recruits with the idea of sacrefice and being mourned for their acts of heroism.

    Mental health is a relatively new consideration and the prospect of adding another celebration to highlight the lasting damage that combat causes on peoples lives is not a message the governemnt want to encourage.

    Once we start opening up that can of worms then there will no doubt follow a "where there's a blame there's a claim" culture of people suing the army for damages.

    Those are the forces I see at play here. The common soldiers interests are rarely considered.

Reply
  • TheCatWoman said:
    Why do we not remember the sacrifice people like him made?

    I think when this idea of rememberance day came about back in 1919 there was no real appreciation for the survivors - they were a resource to be used and only the ones who paid the "ultimate price" with their lives needed to be remembered.

    I think it probably played into the glorification of war to encourage future recruits with the idea of sacrefice and being mourned for their acts of heroism.

    Mental health is a relatively new consideration and the prospect of adding another celebration to highlight the lasting damage that combat causes on peoples lives is not a message the governemnt want to encourage.

    Once we start opening up that can of worms then there will no doubt follow a "where there's a blame there's a claim" culture of people suing the army for damages.

    Those are the forces I see at play here. The common soldiers interests are rarely considered.

Children
  • in reply to Iain

    I agree Iain, my Granddad went all the way through WW1, he was shot twice, blown up and gassed, patched up and sent back out to fight. My Dad remember's him sleep fighting, running down the stairs mid nightmare/memory, shouting 'We're over the top lads', whilst holding an imaginary gun, or beating my Gran in his sleep because he thought she was a German, or cling to her sobbing if he thought she was yet another of his mates who were dead or wounded. He was an alcoholic, not surprising really, people like him who suffered were considered to have some sort of moral weakness, not that they'd seen things nobody should ever see and do things nobody should ever have to do and do it over and over again.

    Grandads trauma had a lasting effect on the mental health of our family, I've tried to conciously ake it stop with me and pass it on to the next generation, I don't now how sucessfull I've been?

    One legacy is an inbuilt distrust of politicans, the wealthy and the aristocratic, those who's desicions start wars that they will never fight in and will never be held responsible for.

    I saw a poster for Purple Poppies, comemorating animals who died in war, we can't even stick to killing our species, but have to kill masses of other species too.