THE ARGENTINE PRISONERS WHOOPED ...THEY WERE GOING TO LIVE
May 31, 1982
Mailman David Norris reports from Goose Green, where he saw 1,400 Argentine troops throw down their arms in front of 600 Paras.
I WAS the only British newspaperman to see the climax of the Paras’ outstanding victory at Goose Green — the official surrender of the Argentines who outnumbered us by more than two to one.
I was asked by the acting commander of the Second Battalion the Parachute Regiment, Major Chris Keeble, to be an official witness of the surrender, with BBC correspondent Robert Fox.
The tragedy was that the architect of the victory was not there to see the ultimate triumph of his men. It had been LieutenantColonel ‘H’ Jones’s leadership and courage which had brought about this moment. But he had died in the achieving of it.
The Argentine troops and air force men were lined up hundreds deep around the Goose Green airfield. Around them a guard from the 600 battlescarred British paratroopers who took Goose Green and its twin settlement of Darwin.
The senior Argentine officer led his men in the singing of the Argentine National Anthem. Then he officially surrendered the settlement and its airfield to Major Keeble, and Argentine officers gave the orders to their men to lay down their weapons.
This they did … not with surliness but with relief. They threw their automatic rifles and pistols into piles at the end of each rank. Many took off their steel helmets and threw them onto the heaps of weapons. One group gave loud whoops of joy. Their meaning was clear … they were not going to die.
I saw the Union Jack raised over the settlement from the
flag pole outside the Goose Green settlement school. The other witnesses to this historic scene had reason to feel grim satisfaction. They were the inhabitants of this little settlement who have suffered severely at the hands of the Argentines.
They welcomed us with shouts of joy and arms thrown round the shoulders followed swiftly by cups of tea and bowls of soup.
The islanders made these ... in the kitchens of their homes, which had been ravaged, vandalised and looted with petty vindictiveness by the Argentine occupiers. Pictures and furniture were pointlessly smashed, excrement smeared over the floor.
The Paras were not amused and soon had the prisoners scrubbing and cleaning.
That is the story of the first day of liberation of a small British village 8,000 miles from home.