Falklands’ deaths haunt me... and 1,000s of other veterans

A FALKLANDS War hero is warning that suicides will continue unless more is done to help mentally ill servicemen.

Tony McNally, 55, has been haunted by posttraumatic stress disorder for 35 years after seeing more than 50 soldiers die.

The married dad of two, 55, has revealed how PTSD drove him to attempt suicide in 2012 and he spent nine months in psychiatric hospitals.

Tony believes fellow sufferers are the forgotten victims of the Falklands War.

He decided to speak out as the Sunday People’s Save Our Soldier campaign gains momentum. Official figures show a serviceman or woman commits suicide nearly every two weeks. We are demanding a drastic overhaul in the treatment of ex-personnel suffering mental problems.

Tony has lived with survivor’s guilt since the Falklands.

But when he first spoke about PTSD he was branded a coward by a serving Met police detective, who was a former member of his regiment. The detective ashamed. I felt responsible for the deaths of 50 soldiers.”

On June 8, 1982, Royal Artillery gunner Tony, part of 32 Alpha Air Defence Battery, spotted an Argentinian Skyhawk jet heading towards troop ships Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram moored in Bluff Cove. He was manning a Rapier anti-aircraft missile tracker system.

But when he fired at the lead jet the missile system failed.

He said: “The attack lasted just a few seconds. Two 250kg bombs hit the Galahad and exploded. Soldiers were jumping into the water, their clothes on fire, as others ran round the deck trying to escape. I could do nothing but watch men burn.

“Paratroopers who were already ashore screamed obscenities at our unit. I felt that it was all my fault.” From that moment on, Tony has been plagued by guilt, flashbacks and bad dreams. One of his comrades committed suicide. He was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, by a civilian doctor, in 1993.