Battle lines drawn in poppy debate

Nov 8 2009 Sunday Sun

IT’S Remembrance Sunday and as people remember those who fought and died for their country a new battle has been fought in the run up to the event . . . about the wearing of the red Poppy. For many it’s part and parcel of the ceremony, for others its significance is that of a propaganda exercise which validates war. MIKE KELLY reports . . .

Paul McClintock is a disabled ex-serviceman selling poppies at B&Q in Durham and for him the purpose is quite straightforward. “It’s fundraising, helping our veterans and service personnel.

“If someone doesn’t want to buy one I don’t think less of them. It’s up to them, everyone has their point of view.”

Paul, 35, from Leadgate, County Durham, who served in Bosnia with The Royal Green Jackets before leaving the Army in 2000 has ample reason to support the British Legion.

After being injured in a training exercise on Salisbury Plain in 1996 when two colleagues fell on him he suffered chronic back problems. For a number of years it was not properly diagnosed then an MRI scan revealed he had lumbar spondylosis which leads to increasing immobility and severe pain.

He was upset by his former Army bosses’ attitude who he believed had washed their hands of him. It was only after the British Legion came to his aid in a tribunal that his benefits were upped from £50 to £400 a month while it has also provided him with a wheelchair and equipment in his home to improve his standard of life.

Paul takes part in fundraising exercises throughout the year for the British Legion and Poppy Day is just one of them. “It’s first and foremost for the British Legion to help families as much as we can.”

A somewhat different take comes from Albert Alderson of Hebburn, South Tyneside. Albert, 76, was conscripted to the Royal Engineers in 1954 and served for two years in Egypt, completing his National Service just before the Suez crisis there. He has been selling Red Poppies at Morrisons in Jarrow, South Tyneside, in the run up to Remembrance Sunday.

He said: “When people walk by without buying a poppy I get a bit peeved. I think everybody should be wearing one. It represents remembrance of those who have fought and lost their lives for their country.”

However, he doesn’t believe the red poppy in any way represents backing for war - “we were fighting for peace” - but revealed that sales of poppies are up.

“I think the Afghanistan situation has brought it more to the minds of people.”

And this appears to be why the red poppy is so inextricably linked to our attitude to war. In years gone by, according to Jan, sales of red poppies were falling away. But they began to pick up again after the first Gulf War in 1991 as a means for some of saying “we support our boys”.