Sir, Jon Miller (letter, Nov 2) seems bored with remembrance and feels it is time we moved on. He also fails to understand the significance of the poppy. It is not worn as a badge of honour. It is a particularly poignant reminder of those men and women we never knew, who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today.

Three of my great-uncles, scarcely out of their teens, returned from the First World War with broken minds and bodies. As with so many others, the country they fought for offered no help and they ended their days as down-and-outs. I never knew them, but there is a place in my heart for them, and I buy a poppy to make a contribution to the appeal and to remember them. When I see other people wearing their poppies I know that we are together in this act of national remembrance and that they have their own special memories.

The BBC has swung from one bizarre extreme to the other, first banning the wearing of poppies then obviously compelling anyone who appears in front of a camera to wear one. This is all wrong. People can choose whether to remember or to forget. They can choose whether or not to wear the poppy. That’s the point.

Ruth Homer
Bury St Edmunds

Sir, A symbol of respect and to be worn with pride, the poppy also represents visible public support for the services. All service-men and women know that they are liable to pay with their lives. Worse, it seems, is to survive wounded. The plight of those discharged after being injured in combat has been highlighted this week, with examples of suffering compounded for the families involved by the appalling maladministration of the Ministry of Defence (report, Nov 3). Whatever we may think of the rights and wrongs of war, our human instinct should be one of revulsion that brave people prepared to put their lives on the line are cast aside so brutally. The evidence of systemic indifference reflects widespread public detachment from the Services. With the passing of a generation that understood war at first hand, we need to redouble our personal, individual efforts to engage with and support our Armed Forces. Otherwise, as a nation we risk losing moral integrity and may well end up with services that are unfit for purpose.

Rear-Admiral Roy Clare
Tollesbury, Essex

Sir, Stuart Gendall writes (Nov 3) a rousing letter calling for support of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Day Appeal, to which, happily, there is still a noble and generous reponse. At the same time, in these days of social responsibility, government must be reminded that before engaging in an elective war it should make sure that it is affordable, and the costs must include full lifelong care of war casualties. It is not good enough to leave this bill to be picked up by charity.

John Hopewell
Langrish, Hants

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