Wear poppies with pride (From This Is Local London)

Wear poppies with pride

10:13am Friday 6th November 2009 in

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It is heartening to see how many people still wear their poppies with pride in an age when some may be inclined to forget the huge debt we owe all who serve and have served in our armed forces, past and present.

However much some may disapprove of what our servicemen have been called upon to do in our name over recent decades, the last people who should bear the brunt of that disapproval are the soldiers, sailors and airmen who put their lives on the line every day in places far away from the support of their families and friends.

Service men and women who die in Afghanistan or Iraq are just as dead as those who laid down their lives in the trenches of Ypres or the Normandy landings.

Objections to our participation in those current theatres of conflict should never lead the objectors to do other than support the men and women who signed up to defend us and their country and are thereafter obliged to go wherever they are sent.

We hear daily stories of enormous bravery on the part of our troops who sacrifice their lives for their comrades and to help the oppressed citizens of other countries.

It is as much for them as for our fallen ancestors in the two world wars that I wear my poppy with pride. It is a small gesture, but it is one that, I am delighted to say, is holding firm across all ages.

I believe that as long as we honour those who fought and died for our survival and freedom, then we will continue to value that freedom both for ourselves and others.

My father survived the Second World War. He was a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Army Service Corps. While doing some research, I recently found the supporting documentation for the British Empire Medal he received in 1943.

It read: “In the early stages and throughout the North African campaign he set a very fine example of hard work and cheerfulness under all conditions and even under heavy bombing.”

He was no different to thousands of other servicemen who simply got on with it then and get on with it now, because to do otherwise would be to let their colleagues and their country down.

Let us wear our poppies for them as well as those who have gone before in our name.