Sir, - It is sad to see Remembrance Day become a political football once again in the hands of Irish poppy-wearers. It is 78 years since the end of the first World War. There are few veterans left now. There have been many wars since. Why pick the first World War and its commemorative trappings as the one to remember?
Thousands of Irishmen died in battles from Culloden to Gettysburg, Little Big Horn to Madrid. They died fighting for the French, the Spanish, the United States and the Mexicans as well as the British. Many of the Irish who died in the first World War did so in the belief that their sacrifice would bring Home Rule to Ireland. Two of these were my grand-uncles, one of whom went missing in France in May 1915 and the other at the Dardanelles in January 1916.
Remembrance Day is a British national commemoration, marked by militaristic displays. True lovers of peace who want to recall the dead of the first World War would do better to commemorate them without the imperial trappings. If the message of Remembrance Day is meant to be an antiwar one, then let us have fewer flags, marching, medals and military bands. Give up the poppy (I do not see many Germans wearing it).
Perhaps poetry readings from the works of Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and the other antiwar poets might replace the martial music. Pageants on the futility of war could take the place of the military march pasts and the wreath-laying. Such evidence of a serious commitment to peace would help to assuage the suspicions of many people in Ireland that the real motivation behind the push for Poppy Day here is, ultimately, a political one. - Yours, etc.,
Greenlea Grove, Terenure, Dublin 6W.