MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Mothers' anguish in Gulf and Falklands
A moving message to mothers of British fighting men and women in the Gulf has been written by the mother of Simon Weston, the Welsh guardsman badly burned when Argentine aircraft set the troop landing ship Sir Galahad ablaze in the Falklands War.
She recalls her awful experience then and Simon's fight for life, and says she wishes she could do something to ease the anguish of so many mothers of service men and women now. "Since the Iraq war started, (she says) my thoughts have been with the mothers of all our soldiers worried whether their children, courageously serving their country, will make it home safely. My heart is full for them".
Writing a special Mother's Day essay in the mass circulation newspaper, the Daily Mail, Pauline Hatfield, her name now, pays a poignant tribute to what the newspaper calls the "extraordinary bond" between mothers and their children. Referring to the Gulf deployment of 45,000 British servicemen and women, she says: "I know that mothers will be finding the waiting and the not-knowing excruciatingly painful".
As the first bodies of British casualties were being flown back from the Gulf to the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton, she writes: "The mothers will have seen the casualties from the first days of the war. We already have widows. Tragically, one of these is only weeks away from giving birth. There are children left without fathers. We have so many heartbroken mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. It does not matter how many children you have. On Mother's Day, it is the one who is missing that will hurt you most. God willing, they will be back with us soon".
She sat down to her mother's day lunch with Simon, his wife, Lucy, and their three children: James, aged 11, Stuart, nine, and Caitlin, five. It was a poignant day for her as Simon nearly died in the Falklands 21 years ago.
Plea to rally round Gulf War injured "It was a time of utter anguish and agony just waiting to hear whether my child was dead or alive. It was a miracle Simon survived the attack in which 47 British servicemen died and 97 were injured. He emerged from the stricken ship with 46 per cent burns".
She describes how she suffered anguish and sleepless nights and lost weight through sheer worry. She listened to news of the Falklands conflict on radio. In the Iraq War, she wonders how relatives cope with non-stop television they can watch all day long.
Even though technology was less advanced in 1982, it was television which informed her Simon was in trouble when it showed the bomb attack on Sir Galahad. Then came the awful wait for news. A Welsh Guards captain called at her home to tell her Simon was dying. Her impulse was to run, but her husband, now dead, had to restrain her. There followed 23 days of agony as Simon struggled for life before he was flown back to Britain. He had to endure awful pain throughout six years of operations. His depressions were terrible. Sometimes she and he felt it would be better if he did not live. With strength, will and support, Simon fought back.
"As is the case when any war ends, the world moves on and people forget. While those boys lucky enough to escape injury go back into the forces, others like Simon are left behind?. I hope people will rally round all the injured when they come home this time.
"I believe in God and I think Simon survived for a reason. Nowadays, he helps inner-city youngsters through his Weston Spirit charity, and is a wonderful dad to his own three children?Through the years after the Falklands he has fought back to make the world his oyster again".
Harold Briley,(MP) London
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