MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Burned Guardsman re-lives Sir Galahad horror

Of all the recollections of the Falklands war, none are more poignant than those of Welsh Guardsman, Simon Weston, who re-lives the horrifying experience of being badly burned along with other guardsmen when the assault ship HMS Galahad was set ablaze by Argentine bombs at Fitzroy.

He has described in detail his experiences in a BBC television documentary "Simon's Heroes" in which he returned to the Falklands to the battlefields to tell what happened on the spot with some of the men who fought them. The film contrasts the peaceful Falklands countryside now with dramatic archive action film of the conflict, including the Sir Galahad on fire as rescue helicopters hovered dangerously close to the flames and billowing smoke. Simon Weston spoke again to the medical orderlies and military surgeons, who saved his life at Fitztroy and the emergency field hospital at Ajax Bay. He spent four years in hospital and had more than 75 operations. But, he says, he was determined not to bear grudges nor let hatred ruin the rest of his life. After his intense pain and despair, he found a pretty wife whom he married in the Guards Chapel in London and has two sons, aged ten and eight, and a daughter, aged four.

Freedom of the City of Liverpool

He pursued his rehabilitation and salvation by helping others, setting up a charity called "Weston Spirit" to motivate teenagers who lack opportunity and hope and feel they have no future. His charity began in Liverpool which is why this year he has been awarded the Freedom of the City, Merseyside's greatest honour. He has previously been awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). From its humble beginnings, the organisation has spread to centres in London, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sunderland, Cardiff, and Merthyr Tydfil. This year it has plans to help as many as 13,000 teenagers through personal and social development programmes. Simon Weston faced his trauma with unbelievable courage and pragmatism. He remains proud of the military who, he says, are not warmongers. The servicemen and women prepared to lay down their lives for peace are the greatest pacifists in the world.

"No glory in war"

His reflections on his experience and the lasting effects of the conflict graphically bring home the reality. "I see the Falklands every when I go for a wash, clean my teeth, and have a shave. I am indelibly stamped with it. It is there for everybody to see. I cannot hide from it. I cannot walk away from i