What the Remembrance Day poppy means to me

November 11 1918, 11am. The end of World War I. The tradition of Remembrance Day began the year after, implemented by King George V and characterised by a two-minute silence. The poppy only became the official symbol of Remembrance in 1921, when it was adopted by the Royal British Legion and the first Poppy Appeal was held.  
 
Since then, the poppy has continued to be recognised as the symbol of Remembrance. However, issues began to arise as early as the 1930s, with many people – even to this day – disagreeing on what the poppy, and Remembrance Day itself, stands for and represents. To help understand these different views, I asked several students to tell me about their personal opinions on what Remembrance means to them. These two viewpoints represent the diversity of opinion particularly well. 
 
“For me, Remembrance is both personal and part of a larger feeling. My great-grandfather died shortly after returning home from fighting in World War II. This sent ripples of pride through my family for the bravery and sacrifice of those soldiers. This is my personal reason for wearing a poppy each November. The larger feeling is that for me, as a feminist, as a person who believes in freedom of expression and the pursuit of pervasive peace, I would think myself a hypocrite not to thank, remember, and honour those who lay down their lives and those who take on immense PTSD to defend the values I hold so dear.” 
 
However, some of the other students I spoke to held an opposing view: “To me, the poppy distracts from the horrors of war, erasing countless deaths by dressing up the atrocities committed as pure bravery. The glamorisation of conflict naturalises its existence, suggesting it will continue to occur without question, and characterises it as the ultimate expression of British patriotism that should be celebrated by all. Those who refuse to wear the poppy are branded as disrespectful and unpatriotic, leading to concerns that the poppy will become increasingly associated with the rising levels of far-right British nationalism and white supremacy. Despite the poppy supposedly memorialising all conflicts, it undoubtedly privileges British deaths as those most deserving of grief, and British ‘heroes’ as those most deserving of celebration.” 

Due to political misuse of the symbol of the poppy, many now associate it with pro-war, far-right ideals

 While these two very different viewpoints are both entirely valid in their beliefs, many people would argue that only one or the other is ‘correct’ or ‘acceptable’. On the one hand, Remembrance began as a way to honour those who chose to lay down their lives for their country and their people, but unfortunately, due to political misuse of the symbol of the poppy, many now associate it with pro-war, far-right ideals. An example of this is the symbol being appropriated by racist, right-wing movements such as Britain First, who use it for clickbait, leading people to unknowingly support these organisations that they likely don’t agree with.  
 
Thinking back to Remembrance Day in 2023, I can recall certain Conservative Party members calling the demonstrations that were calling for a ceasefire in Gaza “disrespectful” to Remembrance and veterans. This was immediately criticised by several Armed Forces members, who stated what I personally think is the obvious: “Veterans do not want war”. Joe Glenton, an army veteran who now works for ForcesWatch, stated: “There’s no more appropriate day to call for an armistice, i.e. a ceasefire, than Armistice Day – that is literally what the day commemorates.”  
 
You would think that it is obvious to the public that members of the armed forces do not want war. Yet, somehow, this is far from the truth. Many people seem to be of the opinion that every member of the military loves war. I do have a personal opinion on these feelings, as my dad was in the UK Armed Forces for the majority of my childhood. Any time that I have come across someone of the belief that every military member loves war, I present them with this statement: when my dad was deployed in 2009, do you think he really wanted to leave my mum, who was four months postpartum after the birth of my sister and was also having to deal with four-year-old me, to go to war? He missed my sister’s first Christmas, and some people have suggested to my face that he wanted to. I find that hard to believe, given that, a year later, he left the regular military for good, unable to stand being away from his family for so long.   

None of it is fair, not for the people whose homes and lives are destroyed at the heart of the fighting, nor for the families, far away, who have lost a loved one to a conflict they were sent into

I am well aware of how lucky I am that my dad made it home, but this, in turn, leads me to grieve twice as hard for families who were not so fortunate. Yet, having such a personal connection in a way to the horrors of these types of conflict, I also grieve for those caught up in this violence. None of it is fair, not for the people whose homes and lives are destroyed at the heart of the fighting, nor for the families, far away, who have lost a loved one to a conflict they were sent into. I want to emphasise that members of the armed forces were sent to war. This links back to the idea that military members enjoy war, and because of this belief, many think these people choose to go to war. They joined the military, right? They chose to fight in these conflicts?  
 
Wrong.  
 
It is the government that makes the fundamental decision to enter conflict. Yes, every member of the military knows what they might be signing up for, but they don’t pick their battles – they are told their battles. In fact, many people join the Armed Forces to make a living and gain transferable skills; they don’t tend to join simply because they want to play with guns. This was the same for every person who served in the World Wars, and generally, every conflict to ever occur in history. That is why I wear the poppy, to mourn those who died, given they had no choice in the matter. I wear the poppy to mourn the casualties of every conflict, past and present. I wear the poppy in the hope that I can help claw that symbol of respect and grief back from those who wish to just use it to pursue their own misguided ideals or agendas.  

Every poppy is a valid symbol of Remembrance, and I oppose those who try to devalue them by saying otherwise

I am not, however, one of these people who criticise others for not wearing a poppy or taking part in remembrance. Just as I am entitled to my views, others are entitled to theirs. As I have said previously, I agree that many far-right movements are running away with the traditional poppy to further their idea of ‘patriotism’. I can understand why many people choose to wear the white poppy instead, as some feel that the traditional red poppy glorifies war. There are also purple poppies that are used to remember the animals that were lost to conflict, and the black poppies that are used to honour black, African, and Caribbean servicemen and women. Every poppy is a valid symbol of Remembrance, and I oppose those who try to devalue them by saying otherwise.  
 
At the same time, I am entitled to wear the red poppy and to use it to honour all of those who gave their lives and had their lives taken by war. Simply because I wear this poppy does not mean I agree in any way with those who deliberately misuse the symbol for their own political agendas.  
 
In the words of Sam Edwards, a Senior Lecturer in History at Manchester Metropolitan University: “I will wear [the poppy] to remember all those – soldier and civilian, men and women, adults, and children – who have been killed, maimed, traumatised by conflict. And I will wear it because to do so is precisely to engage in a political act while at the same time humbly acknowledging the absolute right of others to do differently, according to their conscience and their politics.” 
 
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on Remembrance. While it may raise a points of political tension, a fundamental truth of Remembrance is that those who have given their life or has lost their life to war and conflict deserves to be grieved, honoured, and remembered. That is what remembrance means to me.