Battalion makes emotional return to scene of Falklands bombing

Welsh Guards' Number Two Company deployed in Falklands for first time since 32 soldiers from the battalion were killed in bombing of troop carrier Soldiers returning to the scene of one of their battalion’s deadliest engagements in the Falklands paid an emotional tribute to their fallen comrades. The 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, currently based at Hounslow Cavalry Barracks, suffered some of the biggest losses in the Falklands War in 1982. On June 8 that year, 32 Welsh Guards were among the 48 troops killed when an Argentinian jet bombed the British warship Sir Galahad off the coast of the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was the Army’s highest death toll in a single incident since the Second World War, and the ship’s hulk, which rests on the sea floor 10 miles off the islands’ east coast, is an official war grave.Read more HERE  R.I.P.


WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

Chiu Yiu Nam R.I.P.

Chiu Yiu Nam, who has died aged 62, was a modest and unsung hero of the Falklands conflict


On the afternoon of June 8 1982, Chiu Yiu Nam was serving as a seaman in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sir Galahad, one of five Landing Ships Logistics (LSL) which ferried troops and stores around the islands, and were manned by British Merchant Navy officers and Hong Kong Chinese crewmen. Chiu, as one of the helicopter flight deck party, was also trained in firefighting.
In an attempt to outflank Argentine positions, Sir Galahad and her sister ship Sir Tristram had been sent to Port Pleasant, on the south coast of East Falkland, and elements of the Welsh Guards were waiting to disembark when the ships were attacked by five Skyhawk jets of the Argentine air force.
Three aircraft dropped bombs on Sir Galahad, one of which penetrated an open hatch, its explosion generating a fireball which swept through the tank deck, where many troops were and where ammunition and petrol were stowed. A second bomb exploded near the galley area, killing Chiu’s friend, the ship’s butcher, Sung Yuk Fai, and injuring many others.
As the stores on the tank deck began to ignite and explode, causing intense local fires, the master of Sir Galahad, Captain Philip Roberts, was reluctantly considering whether to give the order to abandon ship. Chiu, meanwhile, realised that there were soldiers trapped inside. Wearing a protective asbestos suit, he fought his way through the smoke and flames into the bowels of the ship, where he was confronted by scenes of confusion and devastation. After leading out one man, he went back for another. He continued to return, bringing men to safety until he realised that there was no one left alive. Only then did he obey the order to abandon ship. In all, 48 seamen and soldiers were killed and many more badly burned. Of those who survived, at least 10 owed their survival to Chiu.
Chiu was remarkably modest about what he had done: on the journey home in the tanker British Test, Capt Roberts quizzed his crew about their role during the bombing of Sir Galahad without discovering Chiu’s heroism. It was only later that the Commanding Officer 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, Lt-Col Johnny Rickett (who had disembarked the night before the air attack), interviewed his guardsmen and heard about an unknown rescuer whose identity had been hidden behind a protective hood. Further inquiries revealed that this had been Chiu.
He remained reluctant to be recognised officially for his bravery. In 1983, however, he agreed to fly from Hong Kong to London, where the Queen invested him with the George Medal. Read more HERE

R.I.P. Chiu Yiu Nam Unsung Hero

Attack on the Galahad and Tistram 29 years ago today

29 years ago today On 8 June 1982 in Port Pleasant, off Fitzroy, on the Falklands Islands  together with RFA Sir Tristram, I sat helplessly and watched  as they were attacked by Argentine aircraft as my missile system failed while they prepared to unload soldiers from the Welsh Guards. A total of 48 soldiers and seamen were killed in the explosions and subsequent fire. Later the hulk was towed out to sea and sunk by HMS Onyx; it is now an official war grave. Never a day goes by when I do not think of that awful day R.I.P 
The annual memorial service takes place at the Fitzroy Memorial in the FIs at 1400 UK time today watch it Here RIP

'You can teach a man to kill but not to see dying'

The air is blue with cigarette smoke and swearing as Chris Duggan recalls the smell of his injured comrades: "If you imagine burnt pork and plastic; I can still taste it." Flashbacks are common symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but Duggan, a Falklands war veteran, wasn't diagnosed until 1990, eight years after the conflict. By then his mood swings and aggression had destroyed his marriage and nearly killed him. Tonight, his courage in talking about his illness in Combat Stress, a BBC Radio Wales programme, and his calls for more support for ex-forces' personnel, is being recognised when he receives the Speaking Out award at the annual Mental Health Media Awards.Duggan joined the Welsh Guards when he was 16 and served in Northern Ireland and Cyprus before the Falklands. Sitting in his house on a Swansea council estate, he takes alternate pulls on his asthma inhaler and a roll-up cigarette as he tells how he lost 48 friends and colleagues when the landing ship Sir Galahad, packed with troops and ammunition, was bombed and caught fire in San Carlos Water.Read more  HERE

Thank you for your courage Chris in speaking about this terrible condition that has taken many a suffering veteran.