Originally Posted by Lacelady

My dad insisted that we spend as little as possible on his funeral - he had a strong opinion on the kind of profits funeral directors seemed to want. He even wanted us to find him a cardboard coffin, since he was going to be cremated, but they don't seem to be available in Ireland. In the end, each of us carried a single rose, and we draped his coffin in a quilt I had made him, of the White Ensign ( UK Royal Naval flag). I don't think the crematorium had seen anything like our dad's. He wasn't religious, so we didn't have a priest, we did our own thing, reminiscing on various aspects of his life, including landing on one of the D Day beaches in France. I noticed that all of the staff who had carried dad into the chapel for us stayed at the back to listen, and afterwards, one who gave me back his quilt, was kind enough to say that if it weren't for people like my dad, Ireland might have not been able to stay neutral during WW2.

It was a very kind thing to say, and I really appreciated it.