yeah, they kept getting on leave soldiers, miners and others who couldn't volunteer due to being war critical, off duty coppers, etc they had to introduce badges and pins to publicly show that someone was helping the war effort > anecdotes from the time indicate that the campaign was unpopular among soldiers, not least because soldiers who were home on leave could find themselves presented with feathers. > one example was private ernest atkins, who was on leave from the western front. he was riding a tram when he was presented with a white feather by a girl sitting behind him. he smacked her across the face with his pay book and said, "certainly i'll take your feather back to the boys at passchendaele. i'm in civvies because people think my uniform might be lousy, but if i had it on i wouldn't be half as lousy as you".[8] > supporters of the campaign were not easily put off. a woman who confronted a young man in a london park demanded to know why he was not in the army. "because i am a german", he replied. he received a white feather anyway.[10] > occasionally injured veterans were mistakenly targeted, such as reuben w. farrow who after being aggressively asked by a woman on a tram why he would not do his duty, turned around and showed his missing hand causing her to apologise.[7] > perhaps the most misplaced use of a white feather was when one was presented to seaman george samson, who was on his way in civilian clothes to a public reception being held in his honour for having been awarded the victoria cross for gallantry in the gallipoli campaign.[11] solid woman moments > the writer compton mackenzie, then a serving soldier, complained about the activities of the order of the white feather. he argued that "idiotic young women were using white feathers to get rid of boyfriends of whom they were tired".[13]    n_lkca_o
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