Each week three-year-old Jake Stansfield visits St Edburg’s church cemetery in Bicester to help his mum Joanne tend ‘daddy’s garden’.

This garden is in fact Jake’s father’s grave.

Sgt Mark Stansfield, 28, was fatally injured in a forklift truck accident at Basra Air Station in southern Iraq in September 2007, the day before he was due to head home to his pregnant wife.

This week, Jake and his mum placed a poppy wreath on Mark’s grave, as Oxfordshire’s Royal British Legion launched its annual Poppy Appeal.

And Mrs Stansfield urged Oxford Mail readers to give generously.

She said: “Poppies are a sad reminder of those we have lost, but also of how important it is to support those who have been left behind.

“Mark was so excited about becoming a dad. We didn’t know I was pregnant until after he had left for Iraq, but when I was 19 weeks pregnant he died.

“Each week Jake and I come to his graveside, keep it clear of weeds and I talk about Mark and how much he loved us. I have also told Jake about how important poppies are and how they help people like us.”

Mark Stansfield, who was from Bicester, was a member of the Royal Logistic Corps, based at Dalton Barracks in Abingdon.

Following his accident he had emergency surgery at Basra Air Station Field Hospital and was transferred to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, but he died two days later on September 21, 2007.

Mrs Stansfield said: “When Mark died it was devastating. But the Royal British Legion, which runs the Poppy Appeal, has been by our side throughout.

“They stepped forward and offered their emotional help and support at the beginning, pointing me in the right direction for legal advice and even helping me get the right information on benefits after I became a widow and single mum.

“I know that if I need them they are there for as long as I need them and what makes that possible for Jake and myself and other families like ours, is people buying poppies.”

Mrs Stansfield, who is now 31 and works as a medical receptionist, said: “Although the Poppy Appeal is 90 years old and everyone recognises these little red flowers, it is important people realise that they are as important now as they ever were.

“They are still helping veterans of the world wars, but their work is now just as important in helping families affected by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Every extra penny people can give for their poppy is used to help families who have lost loved ones, whose loved ones have been injured, or those facing hardship. It is just amazing what they do for soldiers and their families.”

* Donate online at poppy.org.uk/ support-us/give-money