Tributes as the last soldier injured in the Falklands War, Ian Morton, is laid to rest

THE last British soldier injured in the final minutes of the Falklands War was laid to rest in Oxfordshire yesterday.

Cowley Mini plant security worker and father-of-three Ian Morton, who died on New Year’s Eve, was described as an “unsung hero” as dozens of comrades gathered to pay tribute to him at Banbury Crematorium.

The 52-year-old was found dead in his home in Upper Heyford, near Bicester, on January 1, a day after he suffered a heart attack.

On the morning of June 14, 1982, he was hit by a grenade and shrapnel in ferocious fighting during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown.

Comrades said Mr Morton, a sniper in the Scots Guards, had been in an advanced and exposed position attacking Argentine forces when he was hit and suffered back injuries. It was half an hour before the Argentinians surrendered.

His ex-wife Karen, daughter Candice, 30, and sons Robert, 26, and Ross, 21, travelled from Scotland to be at his funeral. Current wife Rebecca and stepdaughter Sasha were also in attendance.Read More HERE R.I.P.


Original Scottish Version
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears
Ains a year say a prayer faur me
Close yir een an remember me
Nair mair shall a see the sun
For a fell tae a Germans gun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
English Translation
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
When they come I will stand my ground
Stand my ground I’ll not be afraid
Thoughts of home take away my fear
Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears
Once a year say a prayer for me
Close your eyes and remember me
Never more shall I see the sun
For I fell to a Germans gun
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Lay me down in the cold cold ground
Where before many more have gone
Where before many more have gone
In memory of Sgt. Charles Stuart MacKenzie
Seaforth Highlanders
Who along with many others gave up his life
So that we can live free
We will remember them

Falklands War. 'The Diversion'. ('Lament For Tumbledown' / 'Mount William Ridge')

SCOTS GUARDS IN THE FALKLANDS WAR

SCOTS GUARDS BRING DOWN FOUR ENEMY AIRCRAFT IN THE FALKLANDS WAR

Falklands soldier Donald McLeod: We battle to cope with horrors of war - but nothing is done to help

WORDS come easily to Donald McLeod, but when the former soldier talks of the Falklands War, his eloquence surrenders to the horrors he has seen.Falklands War, his eloquence surrenders to the horrors he has seen. He throws out words: “Fixed bayonets. Advance. Machine gun. Came at us. Artillery fire. The whole sky lit up.” Then he falls silent, looks towards the window, and the tears come. He is recalling the battle for Mount Tumbledown, an intense, raw, bloody fight. His voice breaking, Donald goes on: “We stuck bayonets in people. We were shooting. Then it all went quiet. Then we walked around the battlefield. Our friends were in bits. The Argentinians were blown apart. Men with no heads. Guys with no legs, no arms. “That sticks and you can’t get it out of your mind. You come home and no one does anything about it. I hated the army after that.” He is sitting in Hollybush House, Ayrshire, where the charity Combat Stress are helping him battle the “enemy within” – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Apart from to his key worker, this is only the second time Donald, 52, has talked about his experiences. He finds the memories of his time in the Army so traumatic that he burned all the pictures he had of himself as a serving soldier. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands. PTSD is now a recognised condition but it wasn’t back then and soldiers came home from war and were abandoned to their nightmares. Falklands veteran Clive Fairweather was deputy commander of the SAS during the conflict and is now chief fundraiser for the charity. He remembers the Falklands as a short, brutal war. He said: “Sailors faced the daily threat of being roasted on board their ships by Argentinian missiles or freezing in the sea. “Our soldiers were blown up on the beaches and had to run the gauntlet of many hidden mines. Ultimately they had to close with the enemy, sometimes with bayonets, and bury their own dead on the spot. “No wonder so many are still suffering the trauma of this war.” While 255 British servicemen and merchant sailors died in the conflict, more than 300 have since committed suicide. Donald chose alcohol and violence as his escape. Originally from Edinburgh, he came from an army family and joined the Scots Guards at 19 with his brother, who was then 16. After tours of Belfast, he was posted to the Household Division, guarding Queen’s Palaces and parading in Trooping the Colour. But one day they were addressed by a general in the gym. Donald said: “He told us we were going to the Falklands.” He was 23. It took two weeks on the QE2 to reach the islands. “We were shown war films, we were shooting rubbish bags in the sea and stabbing sandbags filled with sheep guts. The adrenalin was pumping. “I couldn’t wait to get in to the Argies.” Read more HERE

SCOTS GUARDS

Falklands War hero dies after collapsing during Remembrance Day parade

A WAR veteran who saved the life of a fellow soldier during battle has died after collapsing while taking part in a remembrance day service. Father-of-three Archie Beaty, 56, from Windsor, was taking part in the Marlow event on Sunday when he fell ill close to where the parade was finishing at Marlow Royal British Legion in Station Approach. Paramedics treated him at the scene but despite being taken to Wexham Park Hospital he could not be saved, it was confirmed this afternoon. The Falklands War hero has been a long time child fosterer, with his wife Diane, taking care of over 53 children in 22 years. Pipe Major Steve Duffy his friend from the Scots Guards Assoc. Pipes & Drums, which was participating in the event, revealed he saved his life during the Falklands conflict. .Read more HERE   R.I.P.

TUMBLEDOWN

TUMBLEDOWN

Remembering the Battle of Mount Tumbledown

The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement in the Falklands War, one of a series of battles that took place during the British advance towards Stanley.On the night of 13 June – 14 June 1982, the British launched an assault on Mount Tumbledown, one of the highest points near the town of Stanley, and succeeded in driving Argentinian forces from the mountain. This close-quarters night battle was later dramatised in the BBC film Tumbledown.

The attacking British forces consisted of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards (2SG), mortar detachments from 42 Commando, Royal Marines and the 1st Battalion, 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, as well as support from a troop of the Blues and Royals equipped with two Scorpion and two Scimitar armoured vehicles. The Argentinian forces defending the mountains were Commander Carlos Robacio's 5th Marine Infantry Battalion (BIM 5).

Prior to the British landings, the Argentinian marine battalion had been brought up to brigade strength by a company of the Amphibious Engineers Company (CKIA), a battery of the 1st Marine Artillery Battalion (BIAC), and three Tigercat SAM batteries of the 1st Marine Anti-Aircraft Regiment, as well as a heavy machine-gun company of the Headquarters Battalion (BICO).

As part of the British plan, the 1st Battalion the 7th Gurkha Rifles (1/7 GR) was given the task of capturing the sub-hill of Mount William held by O Company, the 5th Marine Battalion's reserve, and then allowing the Welsh Guards through to seize Sapper Hill, the final obstacle before the town of Stanley. The attack was supported by naval gunfire from HMS Active's 4.5 inch gun.

At the time of the battle, N Company held Mount Tumbledown. Mount William was just south of Tumbledown and the Marine battalion's O Company was on its lower slopes. B Company 6th Regiment was in reserve behind N Company. M Company occupied Sapper Hill. The Argentinian defenders held firm under the British 'softening up' bombardment, which began at 7:30 local time. As Major Oscar Jaimet recalled in Razor's Edge: The Unofficial History of the Falklands War (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006), I heard the cries of the wounded calling for their comrades, twelve men wounded before nightfall. We thought we had suffered before, but what luxury and comfort compared to this.
During the battle, the 5th Marines Command Post took five direct hits, but Commander Robacio emerged unscathed.Read More  HERE  

The Scots Guards

SCOTS GUARDS

Scots Guards return from Afghanistan

70 soldiers from the Scots Guards Battle Group have returned home early from Afghanistan as the Afghan Police take responsibility for security in their area of operations.The soldiers, from the Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, have been based at the remote Forward Operating Base Ouellette since September 2012, located between the ‘Green Zone’ of the Helmand River and the desert. The guardsmen have been working alongside the Afghan National Civil Order Police to bring security and allow freedom of movement for traffic on Route 611, the main road linking the prosperous town of Gereshk to Sangin. That job has now been successfully handed over to the police.Read more HERE

WELCOME HOME BOYS

THE SCOTS GUARDS

These tough men fought up Tumbledown wearing berets.

2nd Battalion Scots Guards Tumbledown

Brave Scots Warriors who never took a backward step until Victory.

Colour Sergeant Alan Cameron dies of wounds sustained in Afghanistan

It is with regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Colour Sergeant Alan Cameron from 1st Battalion Scots Guards died on 31 March 2011 as a result of wounds he received in Afghanistan on 13 April 2010. Colour Sergeant Cameron received serious head injuries when he was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device while on foot patrol north of Lashkar Gah on 13 April 2010.Colour Sergeant Cameron succumbed to his wounds and died suddenly at home in Livingston, Scotland on 31 March 2011. He was 42. Read MoreHere RIP

Remembering The Scots Guards in the Falklands War

HT/ and more fabulous art work here at Spud Jock Milne

THE SCOTS GUARDS