MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pangbourne Service Remembers the Falklands Fallen

Pangbourne Service Remembers the Falklands Fallen

A memorial service in memory of British servicemen who lost their lives in the 1982 Falklands Conflict brought about four hundred people to the Falklands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne College in Berkshire (on Sunday June 24). They included veterans who fought in the war and many relatives of the men who died.The lessons were read by commanders of two warships in the Task Force, Admiral Sir Alan West, now Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, whose frigate, HMS Ardent was bombed and sunk, and Captain Michael Barrow, commander of the destroyer HMS Glamorgan, Chairman of the Pangbourne Memorial Chapel Trust.The preacher was a former commando, now a Scottish Church minister, the Reverend David Devenney. A former paratroop chaplain in 1982, the Reverend David Cooper, assisted in the service along with the chaplain of Pangbourne College, the Reverend Brian Cunningham.

In the congregation were the Task Force Commander, Admiral Sir John "Sandy " Woodward; Doctor Rick Jolly, whose medical unit saved many lives; Mrs Sarah Jones, widow of Paratroop Colonel H. Jones, awarded a posthumous VC for his courage in the battle for Goose Green; and Royal Marines Commander General Julian Thompson who introduced the Welsh Guard bugler playing "The Last Post".

The 1982 Falkland Islands Governor, Sir Rex Hunt, Chairman of the Falkland Islands Association, was also there, along with the Falklands Government Representative in London, Miss Sukey Cameron and two legislative Councillors, Mrs Norma Edwards and Mrs Jan Cheek.

The congregation sang the Falkland Islands Hymn composed for the opening of the Memorial Chapel in March last year by the Queen.

The Pangbourne service was preceded the previous week by the annual national Falklands Memorial Service at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London.

Harold Briley, London