Hundreds turned out in Stanley on Tuesday to follow events marking the 40th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Falkland Islands from the Argentine occupation in 1982.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss sent a strong message in support of the Falkland Islands people right to self determination on the fortieth anniversary of the Falklands Liberation, 14 June 1982, while at the same time recalling the effort and sacrifices of the troops sent to ensure that aggression could not succeed.
With the capture of Mount Tumbledown, Wireless Ridge and Sapper Hill the Falkland Islands conflict was effectively over and at 2100 hours on the 14th June 1982 the commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, General Mario Menendez, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore.
By Graham Bound for MercoPress – Images of Stanley captured in 1982 compared with photos taken from the same vantage points 40 years on, show a town – now a city – transformed.
On 02nd April 1982 Argentine Forces invaded the Falkland Islands. Patrick Watts, who was Head of Falklands Radio, broadcast a marathon 11 hours non-stop description of the events as they unfolded. He maintained a British presence in the Radio Station for most of the 74 days of Argentine occupation. In this article, he provides a personal account of his recollections of the day that British Forces liberated the Falklands.
More than a thousand people gathered on Sunday at Pangbourne College Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel to commemorate forty years since the end of the Falklands War. The Memorial Chapel holds a remembrance service each year for the 255 British personnel, 649 Argentines and three civilian Islanders killed during the 74 days bitter fighting in the South Atlantic in 1982.
The Falkland Islands marked the forty years since the attack on HMS Glamorgan which killed fourteen crew members. The Memorial service was held at the Glamorgan memorial, Surf Bay, and streamlined live on Forces News despite awful weather conditions.
British Armed Forces fought their way towards the capital of the Falkland Islands, Stanley, in a series of battles on the evening of 11 June 1982. The objective were the mounts Two Sisters and Harriet, securing the high ground next to Stanley facilitating the definitive surrender of the Argentine occupying force and Liberation of the Falklands
In the early hours of June 12th, at 7 Ross Road, to the west of Stanley, three Falkland Islanders, civilians, tragically lost their lives. This was due, not to ‘direct’ Argentine action, but to a computer ‘glitch’ on a Royal Navy frigate that had been shelling Argentine positions.
Royal Marines from all over the United Kingdom have taken part in marching challenges, repeating the 56 miles (90km) across three days, which 42 Commando yomped back in June 1982 during the last week of the Falkland Islands war