[Oratam]

Lest We Forget

Oops! Too late. (for some here, at least)

[truth_seeker]

Red poppies are a symbol in the US also, for fallen WWI troops.

I remember them from childhood. My grandfather served in France.

[PLMerite]

Every time I see poppies I’m reminded of the final scene from Blackadder Goes Forth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM

[Albion Wilde]

The DailyMail has run dozens of articles on this installation, with enormous pictures. Here are two great ones:

Circled by a sea of scarlet, aerial pictures show The Tower of London moat filled with nearly 900,000 poppies to commemorate the First World War

How do you make 888,246 china poppies? Get fired up - then glaze over! Meet the unsung heroes of the glorious artwork captivating Britain at the Tower tribute to the WWI fallen

[x]

Well, they did go to war over opium once twice ...

[Amity]

Brilliant. Very moving, and I also like the fact that the poppies are to be sold to support charities.

You can get poppies in the States for Memorial Day; same practice, inspired by the same poem. Well, the same if the most common ones in Great Britain are made of paper. ;)

[MEG33]

Freedom Isn't Free

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

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.
~~~
Never Forget~Ever Honor

[Scoutmaster]

Beautiful and very moving.

People tend to forget that WWI truly wiped out a generation of young men. I'll mock the French about surrendering in the face of military conflict, then I'll reflect upon the fact that more members of the French military died in WWI than the aggregate number of servicemen and -women who have died in all US military engagements since (and including) the Revolutionary War.

I'm not simply talking about the 'big' wars, such as the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, WWI, etc. I'm including the Second Barbary War, the First Sumatran Expedition, the Rogue River Wars, the single casualty of the Sheepeater Indian War, the Sugar Point Pillager Band of Chippewa Indians War, the USS Liberty incident, the Berlin Blockade, the Invasion of Panama, Bosnia-Herzegovina, etc.

That's not to minimize the supreme sacrifice of our servicemen and women in the least.

But if the citizens of England, France, Germany, etc. wish to remember their WWI dead, I'm going to respect their acts and their emotions.

[dfwgator]

Cowboys and Jaguars both wore poppies on their uniforms for today's game in London.

[Chickensoup]

Actually I found the installation to be less than honoring. Blood gushing out of a window? and pouring around a moat.

Just doesn’t seem to provide the appropriate respect. Too focused on death and not on honor.

[GOPJ]

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.