‘I LOOK BACK ON IT WITH A FEELING OF GREAT FORTUNE’
F ALKLANDS War veteran Simon Weston has revealed he still feels “incredibly lucky” to be alive 35 years on. Wednesday marks the 35th anniversary of the end of the conflict.
On Thursday Simon, 55, marked the day the RFA Sir Galahad was bombed – the day he nearly lost his life.
“This time 35 years ago I did not expect to live,” he said.
“I look back on it with a feeling of great fortune.”
His memories about the end of the war are vague.
“I do not remember that much about the end of the war because I was in hospital, so I do not remember too much,” he said.
“I remember someone telling me it was over and having a feeling of being pig sick because I had been injured just a week before.”
He was not an easy man after the Galahad’s bombing.
“First it took me back to being a child because anyone that gets injured can regress to being a child.
“I was the biggest pain in the a*** for the nurses,” he said.
“I was hard work and I didn’t comply. Everything I did I did begrudgingly.”
His views on the war have mained the same.
“I think the same now as I have always thought – nothing has changed,” he said.
“I always felt it was the right thing to do.
“I have always felt that people’s freedom and democracy were worth fighting for.”
The Sir Galahad was attacked by three A-4 Skyhawks as it prepared to unload soldiers from the Welsh Guards in Port Pleasant on June 8, 1982.
“I have to think about it because people expect me to talk about it but I don’t dwell on it every day,” Simon said.
“I have my memories and remember the people – and some of them I re- think about every day friends are important.
“You can’t just go out and pick up new friends.”
Among those he still misses are Neil Hughes, Gareth Hughes and Andrew ‘Yorkie’ Walker, whom he sailed with on the QE2 to the islands. All were killed. “There were 48 dead and a lot were good friends of mine,” Simon said.
“I think about them every day, how they made me happy and smile and laugh – some made me cry laughing.
“They were wonderful people. Some of them I did not get on with but on the whole I did.
“I’m still in touch with some of the guys but, as with a lot of things, we all have our separate lives to lead.”
Of Simon’s 30-strong platoon 22 were killed. The Welsh Guards lost 48 men and 97 were wounded. Simon survived with 46% burns.
“I have spoken to a couple of the guys this week but the greater poignancy for me was Thursday, which was the anniversary of when we got blown up,” Simon, from Caerphilly, said.
“That was when my own personal battle began to survive.”
Simon, awarded the CBE last year, said he felt “incredibly lucky” to be here.
“Every single one of the guys on that ship and everyone killed would love to have our worries and problems – that is the simple truth,” he said.
“I appreciate every day that I get. You only have to look back at last year to see how many incredible people passed away too soon.”
He called the planet “a crazy, mixed-up” world. “After what we went through and what we witnessed it could and has done for better people,” he said. “There have been a lot of good people who have taken their own lives.” because