Falklands war ‘enemies’ nominated for peace prize

British veteran and his Argentinian colleague have identified more than 100 unknown soldiers

A FALKLANDS veteran and a former Argentinian serviceman who joined f orces to i dentify the remains of unknown soldiers who died in the conflict have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Col Geoffrey Cardozo, who served in the British medical corps, and Julio Aro, a former Argentine conscript, have worked together to reveal the identities of more than 100 soldiers who were buried under headstones that read “Known Only By God”.

The pair have spent more than a decade identifying the deceased and contacting their families, on a project that received £1 million of joint Argentinian and British government funding. Only seven unknown soldiers now remain in Darwin Cemetery on East Falkland.

Col Cardozo helped build the cemetery after the war finished in 1982, and buried the bodies of Argentine servicemen found on the battlefield, keeping a detailed description of the men and where they were laid to rest.

In 2008, he met Mr Aro at a talk in London about post-traumatic stress.

Mr Aro said he had been very moved to find 121 graves of unidentified Argentine soldiers and wanted to identify them “out of respect for the pain of their families”.

When Col Cardozo told him he had a precise record of the characteristics of each body, the belongings found with it and the place where they were found, Mr Aro said: “I couldn’t believe it. The person who had been by my side as a translator for days was the one who could facilitate our task.”

Mr Aro set up the “No Me Olvides” foundation, which translates as “Do not forget me”, and worked with the International Red Cross and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team to conduct DNA tests on the soldiers.

Some 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers died during the Falklands war.

Responding to the Nobel Peace Prize nomination news, Mr Aro told Argentinian newspaper La Nacion: “For us it was a surprise, we never looked for any of this. In any case, the most beautiful and pleasant prize is the hug of the mothers, those tears that say thank you, that strong handshake. This does not end until we identify the last body. We are not finished yet, we are not going to leave anyone behind.”

Col Cardozo told the paper: “This is not about the possibility of obtaining a personal award.

“It is a recognition of the cause for which we fight for so much. I am happy, but no award equals the emotional embrace of a mother who waited 36 or 37 years to be able to stand in front of the grave where her son rests.”