Choices On Poppy Wearing Came At Great Cost

Dr John Coulter ✍ This past weekend has always been very special in our family circle as we remember those who served and sacrificed during the various conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Today is Armistice Day - 11th November - the day on which in 1918 on the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour, the guns fell silent marking the end of the Great War (1914-18) in which millions were slaughtered or maimed.

Yesterday, Sunday 10th November, was Remembrance Sunday, when I laid a simple wooden cross with a red Poppy on it to remember family loved ones who served, but are no longer with us.

This year, I laid the cross at the war memorial in the north coast town of Castlerock as I accompanied fellow Boys’ Brigade colleagues in laying the BB wreath.

My little cross bears the names of seven family members. They are:

William Ferris, my wife’s grandfather, who served with the British Army in the Second World War.
Robert Coulter, my dad, who served as a chaplain to the Ulster Special Constabulary Association.
John Coulter, my grandfather on my dad’s side after whom I am named, who served with the Royal Flying Corps in the Great War.
Arthur Henderson, my cousin on my dad’s side, Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve, who was murdered in the 1970s in Tyrone by the IRA whilst on duty.
Ricky Coulter, my great uncle on my dad’s side, Royal Air Force, who was killed in action when his bomber was shot down during World War Two and has no known grave.
William Holmes, my great uncle on my mother’s side, British Army, who was killed at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 and has no known grave.
Billy Coulter, my great uncle on my dad’s side, who served with the Northumberland Fusiliers in the Great War and the Home Guard in the Second World War.

In recent years, the Poppy symbol has become a subject of much debate. For me, there is just the original red Poppy. Folk have tried to introduce various different coloured Poppies to represent their individual campaigns.

Over the years, too, there has been a debate about folk who choose not to wear a Poppy. They have that choice because of the service and sacrifice who gave their lives so that our generation could enjoy that freedom of choice.

Watching all the documentaries about the Great War and how it started, I have reached the conclusion that had many of the inbred royals who headed up their respective nations decided on a family get-together, the slaughter of World War One could have been avoided.

Then again, had it not been for the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, would the looming Irish Civil War have been between the Ulster Volunteers from Unionism and nationalism’s Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizens Army, rather than in the 1920s between the pro and anti-Treaty republican factions?

In short, just as Irish folk died or were wounded in their tens of thousands on the Western Front or at sea with nationalist and unionist being killed side by side, would that same slaughter have occurred on the island of Ireland between unionist and nationalist?

One of the bloodiest battles of the Great War was the Somme in 1916. Those German shells and bullets did not distinguish between Catholic or Protestant, unionist or nationalist.

Perhaps those who choose not to wear the Poppy, or malign its significance, may wish to ponder what would have happened if Kaiser Bill had won the Great War or Hitler had won World War Two. In the former, we would all now have to wear the notorious Iron Cross; in the latter case, all would have to wear the swastika - no choice; wear it or be shot!

There are so many freedoms in 2024 which the woke society and liberal elite take for granted. Again, this year marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a military operation which also marked the Allies gaining a serious foothold in Europe and the beginning of the end of Hitler’s notorious Nazi Third Reich.

During those landings in Normandy, the Americans suffered horrendous losses at Omaha Beach.

I simply ask the woke community - what if those landings had been a military disaster and Hitler had used that disaster as a springboard to invade the United Kingdom? Would a woke community ever exist in Hitler’s Nazi world?

Whether you decide to mark Armistice Day today or not, just remember that a new Axis of Evil is being formed between Russia, North Korea and China and that the freedoms to wear or not wear a Poppy may again soon be in jeopardy.

As we the generation living in 2024 use today to mark the freedoms of our Western democracy, do we harbour the same fears that people felt by the generations who lived in 1914 as the Great War unleashed its horrors across the globe? In short, is history about to repeat itself?

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM.