Tribute to ‘daring and bravery’ of Falklands task force on 40th anniversary of conflict
PRIME minister Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the ‘incredible daring and bravery’ of armed forces personnel on the 40th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War. Veterans, civilians and bereaved family members attended a service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, on Tuesday, along with senior members of UK defence staff, to remember the conflict. Mr Johnson, who laid a wreath at the service, said: ‘The first thing is remember what an incredible thing it was that they achieved back in 1982. ‘To make an opposed landing, to take back territory in the way that they did. ‘The incredible daring and bravery of those young men and women. And we salute that – we remember that today.’
Mr Johnson, who spoke at the service as military helicopters carried out a fly-past, said the ‘greatest tribute’ to those who had laid down their lives was that the Falklands Islands had since ‘thrived in peace and freedom’. The undeclared war claimed the lives of 255 British forces personnel.
The attack came on April 2, as Argentinian forces targeted the islands located 8,000 miles from the UK mainland, deep in the South Atlantic.
Just three days later, a vast combined arms British task force – Task Force 317 – steamed from Portsmouth intent upon re-taking the British overseas territory. The British effort eventually involved 26,000 troops and 3,000 civilian personnel.
The conflict claimed 907 lives in total, including 649 Argentines and three Falkland Islanders.
More than 2,000 were wounded during the fighting, and many more suffered – and still live with – the unseen injuries of conflict.