MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Jeremy Moore 'a worthy adversary'

General (R) Martin Balza

Retired Major-General Sir Jeremy Moore, the British land commander in the 1982 South Atlantic War who died last weekend in his 79th year, was described yesterday by a wartime foe as a “worthy adversary and an excellent professional.”

Argentine Ambassador to Colombia Martín Balza, an artillery officer who rose to be army chief-of-staff, also fondly recalled a long conversation with Moore when he visited Britain as military chief in 1996. Moore, who accepted the surrender of General Mario Benjamín Menéndez (the Argentine military governor of the Falkland/Malvinas islands) on June 14, 1982, was reminiscing about the event on the 25th anniversary of the conflict only three months ago. He recalled that when General Menéndez bristled at the prospect of signing an unconditional surrender, he told him that the word "unconditional" could be struck out if it bothered him. Moore said that his main priority was to avoid any unnecessary deaths in a war which had already claimed just over 900 lives (649 of them Argentine). Born on July 5, 1928 into a military family, Moore joined the Royal Marines at an early age and was already in action in 1950, fighting Chinese Communist guerrillas in Malaysia. Between 1962 and 1967 he was back in that part of the world in North Borneo, defending first Brunei and then Malaysian territory in Sarawak from secessionists and Indonesian incursions as part of Sukarno's "Konfrontasi" policies of confrontation. "I had a tremendous time in Malaya, absolutely smashing," he recalled afterwards. His military career also included trouble-shooting assignments during the Cyprus emergency of 1957 and "no-go" areas in Northern Ireland for two tours as from 1971. But there was also a softer side to his duties, including two spells at the Royal Marines School of Music (which he headed the second time) and as a Sandhurst instructor. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1971 and to major-general (in charge of all commando forces) in 1979, Moore was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1973 and retired from the service in 1983. He is survived by his widow Veryan and three children. Perhaps the most fitting tribute to Moore came from his naval partner in the 1982 war, Naval Task Force Commander Rear-Admiral Sandy Woodward, who paraphrased the Duke of Wellington's famous description of his own troops: "I don't know what they do to the enemy but by God they terrify me" by saying of Moore: "I don't know how much he frightened the Argentinians but he certainly did a good deal more than just impress me." Buenos Aires Herald- Martín Antonio Balza is an Argentine Lieutenant General and a veteran of the Malvinas War. He was born on June 13th 1934. He was Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army (1991-1999) during the presidencies of Carlos Menem and Fernando De la Rua. He is an artillery officer specialised in mountain warfare. During the Malvinas War in 1982, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was commander of the 3th Artillery Group. He was awarded the Argentine Army to the Military Merit Medal for his conduct during this campaign. General Balza, a man of strong democratic convictions, had stood up for the legitimate government in every attempted coup d'état throughout his senior career. He also gave the first institutional self-criticism about the Armed Forces' involvement in the 1976 coup and the ensuing reign of terror. He is currently Argentine ambassador to the Republic of Colombia.