Let's avoid making the humble poppy a far-right symbol

Let's Avoid Making the Humble Poppy a Far-Right Symbol

Perhaps I have been living under a stone, but I had no idea, nor had my friends and acquaintances, that the symbolic poppy has been seized by the far right (Neil Mackay, “The poppy has been hijacked by the far right – this is why I won’t wear it,” November 6).

My recently deceased father survived the Normandy landings. His father was wounded at Passchendaele by a shell and evacuated to the Netley receiving hospital on Southampton Water. Despite his injuries, he refused surgeons’ orders to amputate his legs. He went on to serve in twelve other hospitals before returning to Passchendaele, fighting in all weather while wearing his kilt.

When he passed away, he still had a piece of shrapnel dangerously close to his spine and a large wound in his buttock.

Neil Mackay: "Why I can't risk wearing a poppy this year"

My mother’s boyfriend was lost with all hands when HMS Kite was torpedoed in 1944, a fact my father had only recently shared. This tragedy deeply affected her throughout her life.

This is the kind of dedication and resilience shown by those who went to war to protect our democracy and country. My father instilled in us the importance of supporting the Earl Haig Fund and wearing the poppy as a symbol of remembrance: “Lest we forget.”

I recall him standing at attention, tears in his eyes during the minute’s silence every year at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Author's summary: The poppy symbolizes profound sacrifice and remembrance, and its association with far-right groups distorts its true meaning and dishonors those who served.

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The Herald The Herald — 2025-11-07

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