November 2013:
Regarding the Ottawa students who say they don’t care if the “White Poppy” offends vets: the poppy symbolizes SACRIFICE, not war. The red poppy came to symbolize soldiers who died in conflict as a result of the poem, “In Flanders Fields”, written in 1915 by Canadian physician and Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, MD. McCrae was inspired to write the poem after seeing the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers while officiating at the burial service of a close friend, who died during the second battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium. How do the graves of dead soldiers glorify war?
Veterans are some of the biggest advocates for peace as many have seen the horrific reality of conflict. Very few people today realize just how close the Allies came to loosing WWII. It would be a very different world if the Nazis won the war. This irony is obviously lost on these arrogant and entitled narcissists.
Bruce Forsyth, CD, Leading Seaman (Ret’d)
Royal Canadian Navy Reserve
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Updated column published in the Barrie Advance
6 November 2017
Regarding those who advocate for wearing the “White Poppy” because they feel the red poppy symbolizes war: The red poppy symbolizes the SACRIFICE of soldiers who died in conflict and became popularized as a result of the poem, “In Flanders Fields”, written in 1915 by Canadian physician and Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, MD.
McCrae was inspired to write the poem after seeing the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers while officiating at the burial service of a close friend, who died during the second battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium. How do the graves of dead soldiers glorify war?
Sacrifice has always been a big part of military service, especially during wartime.
Veterans are some of the biggest advocates for peace as many have seen the horrific reality of conflict. Even if we are to be a “Peacekeeper Nation” as many naively think we should be to the detriment of an effective fighting force, peace can only truly be maintained by a military willing to fight and possibly die to maintain that peace.
Very few people today realize just how close the Allies came to loosing WWII. It would be a very different world if the Nazis won the war. This irony is obviously lost on these arrogant and entitled narcissists.
Bruce Forsyth, CD, Leading Seaman (Ret’d)
Royal Canadian Navy Reserve
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