In 2014, the Tower of London hosted the public art installation “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red,” by artist Paul Cummins and stage designer Tom Piper. The installation featured 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies filling the Tower’s moat to commemorate the centenary of the start of World War I, with each poppy representing a British or Colonial serviceman lost during the conflict. The display drew millions of visitors and raised money for six service charities.
Individuals could buy a Poppy that we received after the installation was taken apart.
I bought one in remembrance of
For My Dad – the bravest man I know : CO in WW2
For his Sister Betty (died in the Blitz WW2, mother of a 2 month old baby)
For my Great Uncle Ernest (died in the Somme WW1)
For my Great Aunt Leonie (died in Egypt WW1)
For T’s grandfather Tom (gassed in WW1)
For T’s father (POW in WW2)
some of us will remember very different people …
yes I have ancestors who died in one of the WW’s, and I mourn their passing and am saddened by the significant repercussions of their loss.
and more for those who were involved in the dirt and disgusting.
But the ones I am most proud and will remember most deeply tomorrow are those who died as civilians,….. SO far before their time it makes the wars obscene..
and my greatest pride and and deepest love is for those who stood up for their beliefs and refused to be made to take someone else’s life.
(I am very aware that puts me a tiny minority in this country and other war mongering civilisations who will not expend the required energy and intellect in other means of handling world politics,….. but I care not a jot…if this offends you… unfriend me tomorrow..please… my pride in the individuals I am remembering knows no bounds)
