A white poppy to commemorate the dead of a conflict and vow to keep it from happening again. So for this year’s Armistice Day I’m sure it’s the spirit of the thing to call for a Ceasefire Now
The "Willie McBride, who was only 19" of Eric Bogle's song "No Man's Land / The Green Fields of France" is also an Unknown Soldier.
Bogle used that name and age because they rhymed - McBrIDE / gravesIDE and nineTEEN / sixTEEN - not because they were real, and despite various claims, neither of the two McBride headstones in Authuile Military Cemetery are the man in the song.
Here's a Radio New Zealand interview where Bogle says so himself - it's from 11:50 to 15:08.
Inaccuracy or artistic license, it doesn't blunt the edge of those lyrics one little bit. There are several variants: I chose this one.
"Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?
....
So I can't help but wonder now, Willie McBride,
Did the young lads who lie here even know why they died?
When they served with the Colours and answered 'The Cause'
Did they really believe that their war would end wars?
For the sorrow, the suffering, the terror, the pain,
The killing, the dying, were all done in vain,
Because, Willie McBride, they've all happened again.
And again, and again, and again, and again..."