MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

20th Anniversary of British landings at San Carlos

?So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side'.
These poignant words are written on the tombstone of Private F F Slough 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, whose body lies in the cemetery at San Carlos, East Falklands.

In the early hours of the morning of 21st May 1982, he along with other members of his Regiment, waded ashore, and by daybreak they had established a ?bridge-head' ? a significant British military advance in the Liberation of the Islands. The soldier was just 19 years of age, and tragically he was to die on 14 June 1982, just a few hours before Argentine troops laid down their weapons, so ending the Falklands War and 10 weeks of Argentine occupation.

More than two hundred people gathered at San Carlos on Tuesday, to pay their respects ?for those who died in the events leading to the initial landings at Blue Beach, San Carlos and the Battle for Goose Green'. In San Carlos Bay, which became known simply as ?bomb alley', as a result of the constant and devastating attacks by Argentine aircraft, two Royal Naval ships sat at anchor. Close-by a bobbing red coloured buoy significantly denotes the exact position where H.M.S. Antelope lies on the bottom of the sea ? a victim of an accurate Argentine air attack.

At precisely 1100 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday 21st May, a priest began the commemorative service saying, ?We are gathered here today to remember before God those who gave their lives at sea, on land or in the air in the Falklands Conflict; but especially all those involved in the actions between the Landing Operations at Blue Beach San Carlos and the battle for Goose Green, together with the death of Captain John Hamilton at Port Howard ? they died in the cause of justice, freedom and peace'.

While a lone piper played a lament, The Governor of the Falklands, Mr. Donald Lamont laid a wreath bearing the inscription, ?From His Excellency the Governor on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen and all the people of the Falkland Islands'.

The Commander British Forces Falkland Islands, Commodore Richard Ibbotson laid a wreath which said, ?From the Commander British Forces Falkland Islands on behalf of the Chief of the Defence Staff and all ranks of the three services'.

Many, many civilians took the opportunity to remember the British Forces who landed at San Carlos and liberated the Islands, twenty years previously. Doreen and Gerald Dixon who lived at the settlement in 1982 wrote, ?To all those who laid down their lives for us'.

Eric & Shirley Goss who were imprisoned at Goose Green laid a wreath which said, ?We remember all who gave the supreme sacrifice for our freedom'.

On a still, sunny but chill winter's day and as the waves gently lapped on the small sand beach where 5,000 British troops came ashore twenty years ago, the priest offered ?The Act of Remembrance'. We remember before God and commend to his safe keeping those who died for their country in these islands, those whom we knew and whose memory we treasure; and all who have died in the service of mankind'.

A number of soldiers who landed on the Falklands twenty years ago were present at the Landing Day Commemoration. 44 year old Captain David Abols, a member of the Parachute Regiment, who came ashore at Blue Beach 20 years ago, recalled ?the intense cold as we walked through water up to our waist in order to get ashore?I was surprised that we landed unopposed?I kept wondering where the Argentines where'. Twenty years ago, David Abols, then a 24 year old Corporal, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the battle for Darwin and Goose Green.

by Patrick Watts - Port Stanley