I’m ashamed Americans have no idea about the symbolism of the poppy. Maybe it’s just my family’s history bent, or the fact that my parents often get called up to play the bagpipes for Veteran’s/Remembrance Day, but I’ve always known what a poppy stood for.

Posted by Teka from Hershey on 11/11/08 at 02:27 PM ET

“In Flanders Fields” isn’t as well known a poem in the US as in other countries, though.  The war poem I’m most familiar with is “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen - which is a much, much darker and more painful vision of war than Flanders Fields.  (http://www.answers.com/topic/dulce-et-decorum-est-poem-2)

Although the piece of literature I think of the most is “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

One of my coworkers who is a major history buff (especially military history) didn’t realize what the poppies symbolized at first, until the poem was mentioned and then he got it.  I just think it isn’t as common a poem in the States - yellow ribbons are a more recognizable war-time symbol.  There is no need to be ashamed of anyone for not knowing a symbol not common in their own country.

Posted by Baroque on 11/11/08 at 08:11 PM ET

Also - I think part of it is that WWI doesn’t have nearly the emotional resonance for residents of the US as WWII does.  Without using teh google, I really don’t get much more from WWI than vague images of trenches and landscapes blown apart into some kind of ghostly world, without a living tree or intact structure in sight.  WWII brings to mind Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, tank warfare in the deserts of Africa, the Battle of the Bulge, Navajo codetalkers, Patton, “Bloody Omaha,” breaking the Enigma code, liberation of the concentration camps, the Siege of Leningrad, fighting on the Russian front, the Battle of Britain, submarine attacks on the northern convoys, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and rows and rows of white crosses honoring the dead in France and other countries.

World War I is nearly a century ago, and anything that many generations back gets very, very fuzzy.  Especially if it isn’t nearly as present in popular culture as more recent wars.  The experience is much more remote.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/12/08 at 02:20 PM ET

Teka—I’m glad to know you recognize the symbolism of the poppy, but I agree with what Baroque says… that it’s nothing to be “ashamed” of exactly (that other Americans might not be familiar with it) it’s just a matter of different traditions and symbols being highlighted in different countries.  Certainly America has plenty of traditions when it comes to respecting its own fallen heroes that those of us elsewhere might not know. And that doesn’t mean we don’t respect those traditions, just that we’re not exposed to them as much.

Baroque— You make a good point about people’s memories of WWI vs WWII.  In Canada, it seems like there is quite a lot of focus on the first world war in our ceremonies, whereas in the US, WWII and other confrontations are highlighted. 

Thanks for the link to the Wilfred Owen poem. I don’t remember having ever read that before. Very dark indeed.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 11/12/08 at 04:04 PM ET

How much should I tip the driver on a two hour each way limo ride? I won the ride on the radio.? I won Celtics tickets and a limo ride to and from the game. I’m told the free limo ride does not include a gratuity. The driver will be taking me from Western Mass to Boston and back, waiting around for about 3 hours while I’m at the game. I’ve heard 15% is standard, but I don’t know how much the ride would cost, so I can’t finish the equation.

Posted by Nashville Limousine from Los Angeles on 03/10/09 at 05:49 AM ET

Try getting in touch with the base commanders office in C.F.B. Trenton. Because I don’t know where to get one and I’ve not heard of them till now. But it seems to me that where the highway starts would be a good place to start searching.Someone in the C.O.s office should know.

Posted by Miami limousine on 07/22/09 at 06:39 AM ET