SIR - Frank McManus (T&A letters, February 15) claims that remembrance dishonours the fallen, but when as private of the Buffs it was my privilege to be present as the entire Canterbury garrison gathered for its annual Remembrance Day service I saw things differently.

The climax was the sounding of the Last Post and a reading from Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen. As it ended, the voices of more than 2,000 serving soldiers filled the Cathedral, with the heartfelt response: ‘We will remember them’.

This is the promise symbolised by a red poppy and repeated across our nation and the world that the bravery of those who fought and fell will never be forgotten. It also represents the gratitude of a people saved from tyranny.

Mr McManus must know that without their sacrifice he might not be free to preach anti-war sentiments without risking punishment, torture and death.

If he believes the poppy sends the wrong message, how better can it be conveyed by a white flower when even St John reminds us in Chapter 15 ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’?

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley