The Falklands war -25th anniversary

[saltire]

I was 11 when this started, hard to believe it was 25 years ago. It is what won the Conservatives another term in Government - yet 25 years later the Iraq war could possibly lose the Labour government the next election.
Lots of rememberance ceremonies planned i believe. My cousin was a young 200 year old when he got sent out, luckily he came back.
here

i remember all the ships coming home and getting a hero's welcome

One of my friends got shot in the leg out there. Luckily he was and is OK.

Can I point out my cousin was in fact 20, not 200 as i orignally stated

I was thinking about this today as 3 of my uncles went to the war. They all came home safe, but for one of my dear uncles, the horrors that he saw out there still haunt him 25 years on. I wish I could make them all go away for him. He is the nicest guys that you could ever meet.

I watched a programme last night on ITV4, called a Soldiers Story, a former soldier going back for the frist time in 25 years. He went to the Argentine cemetray, it was sad, they lost over 600 men and their cemetary looks really neglected, some of the graves didn't even have names on them.
He also went to San Carlos, the British war cemetary. DH was in the Falklands last year and went to San carlos and laid a poppy cross, and one on behalf of my cousin. My cousin doesn't want to go back, he has had the oppprtunity this year, but says he can't.

Just found this thread.

I went to watch dh march today in a Veterans' Parade in Weymouth, the Falklands Veterans were leading it.

Did anyone see "Sea of Fire" the other night? It was about dh's ship, HMS Coventry, that got sunk. When they showed the bit when the ops room blew up I said "oh, they must have all been killed in there". "No" says dh, "that's where I was sitting" . He'd told me about it but it was only seeing it re-enacted that I realised how awful it was for him, how close to dying he was and what he's had to live with all these years . He gripped my hand really tightly, I cried, he holds it all in .

And then today, at the march, he met the man who had helped him into the helicopter strop when he was airlifted out of the water. He hadn't seen him since that day. He told dh that he'd said to him "this is going to hurt" and it was at that point dh realised how badly burnt he was.

Very emotional time in our house right now.

Actually, that's not right I did realise how awful it was for him, but watching it made it even worse.

Have been to Falklands and visited both British and Argentine cemetries.Very poignant.

Still landmines,rusting war paraphenalia etc dotted all over island.Goose Green is spooky.

Awful stories.Most of the Argentinian soldiers were boys and did not even have proper shoes,never mind boots or clothes suitable for the sparse cold terrain.In June it is midwinter there.Were conscripted,not told where they were going.

The locals were pulling Argentine bodies from the bogs for months even years after.

Am not justifying their actions.

Have seen Simon Weston and our wargraves.

It is all just so sad,really.

It is isn't it? . DH was only a lad really too.

Surfermum

I cannot imagine what your dh went through.

Even without a war in progress it is a bleak place.

The Falkland Islanders are staunchly British and are SO proud of what our soldiers did some of their stories are astounding.

One woman I met drove 20 miles off road with no headlights(no mean feats in FI) to warn British soldiers of an Argentinian placement.

It was so sad seeing the graves of both sides 17,18,19 no age at all.

Respect to your dh.

I think the Falklands war has been extreamly glorified by the media in the past. I haven't seen any recent documentation, but I hope that doesn't happen this year.

I think it is bound to happen in some respects,with it being 25 years.I think nothing has moved me as much (except dcs birth) than standing on this cold bleak rainswept island looking at the wargraves of hundreds of young men.It seemed so futile.It has only been in the last few years that the Argentine families have been allowed onto the islands to visit their dead.The Falkland Islanders are still (probably understandably from their viewpoint) very anti-Argentinian.

Still gives me a lump in the throat thinking about those graves.

Christ only knows what it was like for the youngmen and women serving there.Horrific I should think.

What were you doing there wrinklytum? It's not a run of the mill package holiday destination! Dh would love to go back again one day. He went back down there after the war on another deployment, but would like to visit again. It's expensive though, but one day we'll find the money for him to do it, if not all 4 of us.

Family member had a civvy contract out there.Went to visit and saw a bit of Soth America too.Very lucky as was very interesting and once in lifetime opportunity.

LyneeteScavo, I haven't seen the "glory" of which you speak.
Indeed the BBC in particular has been very careful to be nice to the Argentine war criminals.
It's done lots of nice mood pieces about how sad the Argentines are. Boo hoo.
Don't recall seeing much Argentine sadness when they took the Falklands. Streets full of cheering crowds. The "sadness" came about because they lost.

They invaded a country that could not pose any threat to them. forget "dodgy dossiers", the Falkands force was vestigal.
Argentine soldiers were vicious to their own people on a a murderous scale. Google on "the dissppeared", and you will get a lot of hits.
Entertainingly it was macho sexism that inspired the latter day Nazis to attack the Falklands. In 1982, Britain looked like a country run by women (Thatcher, the Queen and Princess Di).
So they'd thought they'd send a gang of murdering rapists at the Falklands. Again Google on "human rights abuses" in Argentina, and you will see that this term is if anything playing down how the Argentine military behaved to anyone it didn't like.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of children "disppeared". They apparently were communists. Quite a trick to master Marxism before the age of one

Oh Surfermum, adn others, how sad and awful

I do not think it has been glorified by either side,thankfully.

No Argentina SHOULD NOT have invaded Falklands.

DC ,I agree that human rights abuses have been committed by the Argentinians.Seems to be fairly rife in SA.(Visited Allendes' grave in Chile,some of stories from "Disappeared" there also terrible).

It is awfully sad thta there was loss of life on both sides.

It IS true to say though that a fair number of the Argentine soldiers far from being "Murderous rapists" were young boys conscripted by a corrupt government/military and sent to war without proper equipment for the conditions and without any clue as to where they were going.

It does not excuse their actions,but it is still terribly sad.

Certainly it is sad, and the low quality of Argentine people was a key factor in losing the war.
The officer class were simply appalling creatures. Not only did they know what was going on, they ran away leaving the farm boys to face soldiers from a civilised country.

But, the Argentines as a nation did very well out of the war. It discredited large chunks of their culture, since they were "beaten by a woman". The Junta was mortally wounded, and they now are well on the way to being democratic.
That last fact is studiously ignored by the BBC.

Dps dad is here today

here

think its going to be televised.