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Tisbury Papalscope

Remember Remember that day in NOVEMBER , and

ITS FLANDERS FEELING.

. 'But pleasures are like poppies spread,
you seize the flow'r, its blossom is shed'
(Tam O Shanter Robert Burns 1791)

‘Poppy Day’ is an acknowledgement of a debt owed not solely to the dead; but too to the bereaved they left behind, for it is they and the wounded who have to pick up the pieces of their own lives. A Widow, Widower, or Partner was possibly deprived of the opportunity to have children of his or her own; or may have Children who have few close family relationships. For a parent lost may also deprive them of brother or sister, whilst an uncle or aunt gone, deprives them of cousins, and so on.
Such Tragedy multiplies through the missing generations.
In 1914/18 or 1939/45 every one of us was at war be it at home or abroad. It must surely be more difficult to go to fight now, when everything at home appears to be relatively normal. Like in 1914 a splendid Summer.

War Memorials mostly commemorate those amateur soldiers who lost their lives in both World Wars, but fail to mention all the others lost since then, be they National Servicemen and women or a Professional. Maybe they too should be commemorated on Memorials. There are too many names to acknowledge individually, but collective recognition would remind others that Poppy day isn't the preserve of ageing men and women, but remains as relevant today as it ever was.
Still our sons and daughters are sacrificed, be it in Iraq Afghanistan or elsewhere. Tisbury has a recently placed plaque on our war Memorial acknowledging the ubiquitous presence of American Allies, those in particular passing through this village in 1944. It would seem a good idea to have something similar on War Memorials in acknowledgement of all soldiers sent to fight in our name.

CONTRIBUTORY COMMENT
I do not see how permitting the transport of Ordnance from America to Israel, through the United Kingdom will he helpful to the stability of the Middle East as a whole, or the future of State of Israel in particular. I regret this our complicity in the bombing of the Lebanon. Mossad (The Institute) had a skill that amazed the world when it came to picking off perceived enemies of their State, but this is something different.

Their action is no more logical now , than it would have once been, for the United Kingdom to have concluded that as the IRA found shelter and stowed Ordnance in Eire, then it would have been proper for this country to devastate Dublin.

The Middle East is a mess, it wasn’t the British Tommy that made it so but the incompetent compromises of successive Politicians, whose shades of grey are no substitute for either Right or Wrong. Misplaced loyalty now is far more deeply damaging than the devastation of the Lebanon. JBP.