Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Poppies go by air, road and rail for city service
HELICOPTERS and a ‘poppy bus’ helped Great Western Railway transport more than 200 poppy wreaths to London yesterday.
In association with The Veterans Charity the rail company had five ‘poppy’ trains carry wreaths from Taunton, Plymouth, Carmarthen, Worcester and Great Malvern as part of its Poppies to Paddington operation.
The poppies made their way to London ahead of the Remembrance service at Paddington’s war memorial.
This year GWR remembered 70 years since the end of the Korean War, with its Poppies to Paddington operation featuring special support from a Royal Navy helicopter and the bus.
Partnering with The Veterans Charity, the Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose deployed a Merlin Mk2 helicopter to carry poppy wreaths from its base to Plymouth on Monday.
Further strengthening this year’s integrated travel approach, Go South West provided its ‘poppy bus’ to collect wreaths from stations through the region and carry them to Plymouth.
With planned engineering work preventing trains from running between Penzance and Plymouth, it meant the fourth Poppies to Paddington operation still served Cornwall.
The service especially remembered the 81,000 Armed Forces personnel who took part in the Korean conflict, particularly those of the Gloucester Regiment and the Royal Fusiliers, who were involved in some of the heaviest fighting.
Veterans Charity CEO Danny Greeno said: “We are very proud to have wonderful support from GWR for its Remembrance initiative, which is now in its fourth year. Poppies To Paddington was once again hugely poignant, paying respects to the fallen.”
Military personnel and veterans attending services of Remembrance can travel to and from the events by train for free today and tomorrow.
The offer is open to serving military personnel in uniform or who show a current Ministry of Defence-issued identity card.