The Poppy League is still as important today as it was when it was established to assist war veterans 100 years. And as such, the public is being urged, as the association continues to support Barbadians who have selflessly served to protect this island, to return the sacrifice by supporting these veterans in their time of need.
That was the message delivered by the president of the league, Lieutenant Colonel Neville Edwards and echoed by the chairman of the Barbados Legion Council Lieutenant Colonel V. Owen Springer during Sunday’s service to honour the two organisations at the St. Matthias Anglican Church, ST. Matthias, Christ Church. This year is the centennial of the Poppy League while the Legion celebrates its 65th anniversary.
During remarks to the congregation which included President Dame Sandra Mason and other top-ranking officials from the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), Edwards lamented the first-hand accounts of the mental and psychological, as well as the medical and accommodation trauma which some veterans have to endure.
This is enough at times, Springer noted, to bring tears to one’s eyes, and at times it does. Both Edwards and Springer indicated they wanted to redouble their efforts at raising funds to take care of the needs of the remaining legionnaires and/or their widows/widowers.
“One of the recurring questions which I have had to answer in my three short years at the head of this organization is why is the Poppy League still raising funds for veterans of the World Wars when most of them have been called to higher service?” Edwards noted.
“In Barbados, there are still some veterans of the Second World War as well as those who have served in places such as Aden, Korea, Cyprus, Grenada, Iraq and Afghanistan to name a few conflict areas. Others have served on peacekeeping missions in places such as Grenada, Haiti and Papua New Guinea.
Many of our men and women serving
(or who have served) in the BDF have also responded admirably in times of disaster across the Caribbean.
More recently, the members of the BDF played a major role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the St. Vincent volcanic eruption. Recently, there has been an increase in BDF personnel applying to join the Legion.
We also continue to receive applications from locals returning home after serving in other military organizations and from those expatriate veterans who chose to retire in Barbados. This morning, I proudly represent the many members of the Barbados Poppy League, past and present, who have served and who continue to serve by raising funds for those who have protected us for over one hundred years,” he stressed.
“The mandates of the Barbados Poppy League and the Barbados Legion are to raise funds and to look after the needs of military veterans to live out their retirement years with a certain level of dignity by satisfying their basic needs of food, health and accommodation and those mandates should continue to be our main focus,” he said.Edwards made several suggestions he believed would ensure that these mandates were sustained into the future.
These included: attracting younger persons to the organisations; developing programmes to encourage younger members of the armed forces to start planning for retirement from early; encouraging young members to practise injury preventative measures in order to reduce the incidences of chronic illnesses later in life, and the establishment of an outreach unit that concentrates on visiting and encouraging veterans to have a strong faith in God.
For the 100th anniversary the Poppy League has redesigned its logo to reflect service members from across the eleven parishes of Barbados who have served and continue to serve, not only locally but in the Caribbean, in the Commonwealth and wherever else they may have served and who return in their later years to retire in Barbados.
In addition, the League will formally commence its centennial celebrations in October and continue with activities through the annual poppy appeal periods of 2022 and 2023 culminating with the Remembrance Day Service 2023.
(KC)
