He just said 'Mother.' I will never forget it.

Private Harry Patch
Forgotten Voices Of The Great War

At Pickham Ridge I can still see the bewilderment and fear on the men's faces when we went over the top. C and D Company was support, A and B had had to go front line. All over the battlefield the wounded were lying down, English and German asking for help. We weren't like the Good Samaritan in the Bible, we were the robbers who passed by and left them. You couldn't help them. I came across a Cornishman, ripped from shoulder to waist with shrapnel, his stomach on the ground beside him in a pool of blood. As I got to him he said, 'Shoot me,' he was beyond all human aid. Before we could even draw a revolver he had died. He just said 'Mother.' I will never forget it.

If your child has been asked to march on Sunday with their Brownie, Guide, Ranger, Cub, Scout, Venture, Air Cadet, Sea Cadet unit, please please encourage them to go and help them to be part of something very important.

Every poppy falling represents a dead soldier.