Remember

For the past 10 years, in the week leading up to November 11, Arthur Hughes, a retired army captain, has stationed himself at the corner of Robson and Hornby streets in downtown Vancouver collecting donations for poppies. On duty 10 hours a day, seven days a week, Mr. Hughes, 76, last year raised $16,300.50 - the most raised by any one in Canada, collecting donations for poppies. For Mr. Hughes interacting with the people gives him the most pleasure "The best part are the vast majority of people who are very friendly. One of the interesting things about volunteering is the range of people that you meet, last year I totaled 27 different countries. You name any Country and they come by." However their are some people who don't agree with what he's doing. Mr Hughes recounts how a young man once approached him and standing completely still looked him right in the eye and said "I'm against war!" Mr Hughes laughed and said to the young man "Well what a coincidence so am I." Mr Hughes has seen a vast array of donations in his ten years but their are two in particular which stand out the most, one the was the smallest and one the largest. "The smallest donation was two cents, but it really wasn't small to the fella who gave it because he said he didn't have a cent do is name and you could see that he didn't and so I commended him for donating as much as he could and one time a Korean business man came by and wrote a cheque on the spot of one thousand, which was quite remarkable." Globe and Mail

Mr Hughes recounts how a young man once approached him and standing completely still looked him right in the eye and said "I'm against war!" Mr Hughes laughed and said to the young man "Well what a coincidence so am I :lol: Good for him

I was in Paris over the weekend - paid my respects at the eternal flame under the Arc de Triomphe. I was asked what my poppy was once, by an American half way up the Eiffel Tower.

I was asked what my poppy was once, by an American half way up the Eiffel Tower. Was he impressed when you told him? Year ago I was on the top viewing level of the Eiffel tower with a mate. It was summer and we were looking down on hundreds of people lying down sunbathing on the grass beneath. There was a group of American girls standing next to us and one commented loudly, "Did ya know, that if you dropped a one cent coin from the tarp of the I-Fal Tower, it would kill someone standin' underneath?" My mate said, "Look at that, someone must have chucked a handful of change over there!" The girls all gawped over the edge at the sunbathers beneath.

Here is a picture taken yesterday at Arlington. It looks like the Soldier in the wheelchair has given as much as you could expect a man to give but yet he went to Arlington remember those that gave more. This picture was taken in Section 60 of Arlington. That is where OIF vets are buried. Sorry for the size of the picture. If Bulldog can make it smaller I would appreciate it (pic resized, BD)

Original here http://tinyurl.com/5zhdhd

What is the significance of the poppy? 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. — Lt.-Col. John McCrae Poppies grow in profusion in Flanders, where large numbers of first world war dead are buried, so the poppy was chosen as symbol of remembrance.

I was in Paris over the weekend - paid my respects at the eternal flame under the Arc de Triomphe. I was asked what my poppy was once, by an American half way up the Eiffel Tower. Could you educate a poor ignorant soul? What is the significance of the poppy? As Bulldog noted, there was a profusion of poppies around the battlefield and so it has become a symbol of remembrance. In several Commonwealth countries (certainly the U.K., Canada and Australia, probably others too) they are sold by the Royal British Legion and equivalents and worn on the lapel as a memorial for a couple of weeks around Remembrance Day (the funds raised being used to assist veterans). On the day itself H.M. the Queen leads national and Commonwealth leaders in laying wreaths of poppies at the Cenotaph(the national war memorial); in hundreds (if not thousands) of towns and villages across the country similar smaller ceremonies take place.

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