MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Parachute jumps raise thousands of pounds for Falklands anniversary visit .
British Falklands veterans are intensifying fund-raising efforts to finance their mass pilgrimage to the Falkland Islands next year to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1982 Conflict.
As paratroops units played a major part in defeating the Argentine occupation force, it is particularly appropriate that the South Atlantic Medal Association -- made up of veterans of the conflict and their supporters in the United Kingdom and the Falklands -- has been organising a series of sponsored parachute jumps in the United Kingdom this summer.
The first event at Hinton -in-the Hedges sky -diving centre raised more than eight-thousand pounds. It was led by Mrs Jane Thompson, wife of Royal Marins Major General Julian Thompson, who played a vital role in the 1982 liberation. Making her first jump in tandem with a paratroop veteran, she enjoyed found it an exhilarating experience she plans to repeat. Major General Thompson, a veteran of many parachute jumps in his long military career, watched her with pride.
Also taking part was Mrs Anne-Marie Scott-Mason, wife of Captain Scott-Mason of the troop-carrying liner Canberra in 1982 , and Canberra's first officer then, Martin Reed. The tandem master was Peter Carol, a paratroop veteran of the Battle for Goose Green.
Among the regulars at these fund-raising events with his dare-devil parachute jumps is John Jones, a former Welsh Guards Lance Sergeant, who lost both legs in a missile accident on Stanley airfield, having survived the horrors of the Sir Galahad bombing in which so many his comrades were killed or wounded. He says: "Even though I've no legs, I'm jumping for my old Guards pals" .
There to cheer on the fund-raisers was SAMA Secretary Denzil Connick, a paratrooper who was severely wounded and lost a leg in the conflict.
About two hundred British veterans who fought in 1982 are expected to join a nostalgic pilgrimage to the Islands to mark the twentieth anniversary visit.
The pilgrimage is planned for November, later in the year than the conflict, to take advantage of better summer weather. The crowded programme will include visits to battle sites, wreath-laying on land and at sea, and remembrance services in Stanley Cathedral and elsewhere in tribute to the men who lost their lives. For many of the veterans, it will be their first time back in the Islands.
Harold Briley, London
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