Poppy Ban in West Midlands
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Cheshire, California, Geneva, and Paris
Age: 67
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Just out of interest. I shall be in Ypres on the 11th November which is the anniversary of the end of the Great War, it is a public holiday in Belgium and thousands of people mainly Belgian men, women, and children will come to Flanders Fields to commemerate Men of the British Empire who died decades before most of the visitors were born, in defence of Belgian independence, the Rule of Law and respect for the individual against German militarism. I once asked my French mother-in-law who was in Paris during the occupation by the Nazis in World War 2 about her wearing of a poppy and the sometimes ambiguous attitude of some British people towards rememberance and she simply replied that the reason was that Britain had not been invaded and subjugated by force. Enough said!
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Lincs
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Having spent quite some time in the US, it's interesting to see the real difference in the attitude to those of us in uniform of Joe Public on each side of the pond. It was a little embarassing the first time it happened, but each time I stop off at Wal-mart (or wherever) on my way home from work, still wearing the growbag, it's quite common for random people to come up and want to shake my hand and thank me for "defending them". And when they hear my accent....
Can't quite see the same thing happening in the UK!
Cheers
SBG
Can't quite see the same thing happening in the UK!
Cheers
SBG
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: UK
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DC10
Be good enough to point out to your French mother-in-law that Britain has had her fair share of invasion and subjugation by force over the last 2000 years or so, including some notable activity emanating from her homeland in 1066.
Be good enough to point out to your French mother-in-law that Britain has had her fair share of invasion and subjugation by force over the last 2000 years or so, including some notable activity emanating from her homeland in 1066.
