MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Liberation Day celebrated in Stanley
Gov. Huckle, Minister Ingram, Prince Edward attend a Parade at Liberation Monument The fourteenth of June each year marks the anniversary of the surrender of the Argentine forces, which occupied the Falkland Islands in 1982 and is celebrated as a national holiday.
The public process of commemoration begins usually with a religious service in Stanley?s Anglican cathedral and a parade to the Liberation Monument in front of the Secretariat, where another act of remembrance is dedicated to the memory of those British troops and local people who died during the war. This year much the same pattern was followed except that being the 25th anniversary, everything was on a grander scale and, thanks to the wonders of modern communications, the events were able to be witnessed as they happened, not only in the Falklands, but also in Britain. Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, representing his royal mother, the Queen, headed the list of dignitaries who entered Stanley's cathedral on Thursday morning for a service conducted amongst others by Bishop Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover, who, on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury also acts as the Bishop for the Falkland Islands. Guests of the Falkland Islands Government present also included the Minister for the Armed Forces, Mr.Adam Ingram as well as Dr.Liam Fox, the British Conservative Party's Shadow Secretary of State for defence. The Right Hon Lord Parkinson, who was a member of now Baroness Thatcher's cabinet in 1982, was also present, along with the Falklands Governor of the day, Sir Rex Hunt and his wife, Lady Mavis. Among the military veterans present were Lt.Colonel Chris Keeble DSO, now retired from the Parachute Regiment and a veteran of the ferocious first battle of the war, at Goose Green and Ian Bryden Captain in the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards who took part in the assault on Mount Tumbledown on 13/14 June 1982. Leading the parade from the Cathedral to the Liberation Monument was the band of the Royal Marines, who were followed by marching detachments from the Falkland Islands Defence Force, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Army. After the Act of Remembrance at the monument, the British Forces celebrated their award of the Freedom of Stanley, as is their traditional right, by marching through the town with fixed bayonets. The official acts of remembrance were followed, as is customary, by a public reception, hosted by the Falkland Islands Government and in homes and social gatherings throughout the Falkland Islands, by countless other more private acts of remembrance and commemoration. John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley
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