‘My poppy does not glorify war. It says thanks to those who lost their lives,’ says Emily Clarkson
WALKING through the immaculate war cemeteries in Belgium last month, I kept thinking as I glanced at the headstones: “God, he was younger than me.”
So when it emerged in a survey yesterday that a third of young people could refuse to wear poppies this year, as they feel it glorifies war, it was gut-wrenching for me.
I have never been so disappointed in my generation.
What strikes me in the war graveyards isn’t how well-kept they are.
It isn’t even the sheer vastness of them. It is the ages engraved, for ever, into the stone.
There is nothing glorious about this. There is nothing glorious about war.
I don’t wear my poppy for the glory.
I wear my poppy for the men that didn’t live long enough to make a decision like those questioned in the poll.
I wear my poppy to show my respect. I wear my poppy as an act of remembrance and of thanks.
My maternal grandfather, Major Robert Cain, knew all about the horrors of war.
At the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 he won what has been described as “the best Victoria Cross of the war” for his gallantry and leadership.
Though wounded in battle, he survived to enjoy the peace he had fought for. I am incredibly proud of him.
Next week marks 99 years since the end of World War One. As a nation, we have historically worn poppies in November to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.
It is something I have always done with great pride.
The 1925 charter to set up the Royal British Legion says its function is to “secure peace and goodwill” and to safeguard the principles of “justice, freedom and democracy”.
How could young people object to those precious values?
I am not religious. But on Remembrance Sunday I don my poppy and I go to church.
I cry for men I never knew, who laid down their lives for our freedom.
That is why I wear my poppy with pride.
Navy lads: Thank you, my Sun
ROYAL Navy sailors visited The Sun’s London offices to back our call for your old £1 coins.
We are asking Sun readers to donate their old round pounds – which are now officially out of circulation – to the Royal British Legion. More than 150,000 poppy sellers around the UK will gladly take the old coins.
Petty Officer Greg Coulter, 35, said: “Most of us have some old coins hanging around. They’re no longer legal tender but we’ll gladly take them off your hands.”
