My grandad got blown up at Vimy Ridge, they patched him up and sent him back to war. Afterwards he said it was an awful waste and deeply resented having been sent to war and losing the use of his leg.

My father got shrapnel wounds at Monte Casino.

It was important to them to remember lost comrades. And they respected the 'enemy's' right to do the same.

To me this is not political, it is remembrance without critique. Decrying the concept is like saying you can't do anything special for the Day of the Dead in Mexico.

It's what we do, it isn't advertising, it isn't political and it's important.

Edited by Mapletree (03 Nov 2016 4.33pm)

Well bully for you.

The fact is that Governments in the West particularly have realised that huge war casualties are not acceptable to the public. Vietnam was probably the final straw.
Many men were sacrificed in needless ways during a number of wars, particularly WW1 and their sacrifice should not be forgotten in order to make some political point. While humans exist there will always be conflict.

Oddly Vietnam, for a full scale war, had surprisingly low casualties, given the length of deployment the US had there. Around 55,000 US servicemen were killed. Vietnam I think was a major issue though, not because the numbers, but because the US lost the war - effectively meaning those young men died in vain.

The problem is the sacrifice is important to remember but so is the reason why. Whilst WWII and WWI (to a lesser extent) were 'necessary' for the direct survival of the country, modern conflict tend to have been for far more abstracted reasons - often that seem to have more with foreign policy influence, markets and corporate interests, than the security of the UK and the country.

These days, if your in the public eye, not wearing a poppy throughout the period of their sale is very much a political issue, with media and social network groups very quick to jump on the idea of 'not supporting the troops' etc - which is a tragic shame.

That said, FIFA are wrong. The option to wear a poppy should lie with each individual player, and be their choice.

Oddly Vietnam, for a full scale war, had surprisingly low casualties, given the length of deployment the US had there. Around 55,000 US servicemen were killed. Vietnam I think was a major issue though, not because the numbers, but because the US lost the war - effectively meaning those young men died in vain.

The problem is the sacrifice is important to remember but so is the reason why. Whilst WWII and WWI (to a lesser extent) were 'necessary' for the direct survival of the country, modern conflict tend to have been for far more abstracted reasons - often that seem to have more with foreign policy influence, markets and corporate interests, than the security of the UK and the country.

Well over a million died.