No I'm here I just made the comment about the poppy because I listen to my 90 year old grandad who was called up during ww2. He was captured twice first by the germans but got away during a POW camp transfer shortly after watching at least two dozen of his mates and comrades either killed or tortured to death.
He then got back home only to be reassigned and then caught by the Japs who were worse than the germans. They basically worked him into the ground, He watched as his mates were tortured, beaten to death and experimented on with various poisons and torture methods.
He survived and was rescued along with 50 others at the end of the war and came home broken, battered mentaly unhinged to what ? No counselling, put on the homeless list and all his mates gone. No compensation nor thanks for his efforts, no medals nothing the only thing he gained from that whole episode was the gut determination he gained to survive and all he has left now is bitter memories of everything that happened signified by the poppy. Now me grandad is just one how many others are out there that feel the same way?
I can assure anyone reading this that I'm not against the poppy appeal I'm just saying that nowadays its a real heartwarming and worthwile cause totally different to what it was back then. Which I can only imagine those kinds of experiences so long ago must have been fukkin awful to say the least.
Regards and apologies to those offended john