MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Poppy Appeal launch in UK Embassy.

The Poppy Appeal in Argentina was officially launched at an event held at the British Embassy in Buenos Aires on Friday, October 29.

At a reception which packed the Embassy residence, British Legion Chairman John Lockwood kicked off by recalling how the Poppy Appeal had arisen back in the 1920s, inspired originally by Canadian Army surgeon John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" (the poppies grow, between the crosses row by row").

After a two-minute silence and the playing of Amazing Grace by the pipe band, British Chargé d'Affaires Catherine Royle officially launched the appeal, breaking from tradition and dedicating this year's event to "a special group of people."

These were the Argentine volunteers, some 600 of them, who left these shores and flew either with the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force or the Fleet Air Arm.

This dedication was not accidental as the Poppy Appeal was launched at the same time as a book written by a local researcher, Wings of Thunder, about the experiences of Argentines who flew in the Second World War.

This event drew a number of veterans, such as Squadron Leader Reg Sheward DFC, originally from Temperley, who flew in from England where he now lives, for the book's launch, as well as many others now living abroad.

Catherine Royle officially launched the appeal, asking her son to buy the first poppy and calling on guests to give generously ? which they did to the tune of around 3,000 pesos although let's hope for plenty of "provisional ballots" here!.

The Poppy Appeal will culminate at the annual Remembrance Day service at St. Andrew's Presbyterian City Church (Av. Belgrano 579) at 10am on Sunday, November 14 (decorations may be worn). For those who do not know, Remembrance Day falls on November 11, Armistice Day in 1918 bringing the First World War to an end.