llywela | (no subject)

This year, instead of buying a little paper poppy which would inevitably fall off my coat long before Armistice Day anyway, I decided to make a more sizeable donation to the British Legion by purchasing some of their other merchandise from the online poppy shop. I bought a poppy umbrella, a poppy jute bag and a poppy man mug (to go with my Poppy cat, dontcha know! *G*).

Fab! Except, of course, that when I saw British Legion volunteers selling the little paper poppies in the street, I just had to stop and buy one to pin to my coat anyway! Ah well, at least it hasn't had time to fall off yet...

In memory of my great-great-grandfather, John Melean, who died of his war wounds in hospital in Southampton in 1919 - the war was over by then, but John unfortunately was one of the millions who never made it home. His wife Madeline was left with nine children to raise alone. The seventh of those nine children was my great-grandmother Beattie, who raised my Mum after her mother died.

And here is a postcard sent home from the war by another great-great-grandfather, George Ward, who served as an army medic and came home safely - one of the lucky ones.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It sounds as though there are a lot of heroes in your family!

I bought stuff from the online shop too (metal pin badge and a lanyard) as those plastic ones never stay on nowadays.

Raising 9 children alone doesn't bear thinking about. One of my Grandads served in WW1, but he came home, fortunately. The other was in a reserved occupation and therefore never saw action. My Grandad who fought lost two brothers in WW1.

I love the poppy shop - I didn't know it existed. I bought a metal pin badge this year, as they keep falling off my uniform!

They should have something like that here. Think we can get pens too. Usually I see the poppy badges.

You have a few heros in your family. Can't imagine how hard it would be to bring out nine children on her own :(

very neat!