Falklands war veterans recall challenges of conflict at 40th anniversary
WHEN Able Seaman Chris Purcell arrived in the Falklands he assumed his visit would be short.
“We thought we would go there, show the flag and be home in no time,” he remembered.
Instead he was there for months, and witnessed the full devastation wreaked by Exocet missiles while aboard HMS Sheffield.
Attending a service for the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the islands was an opportunity for Mr Purcell, now 62, to remember the challenges he faced during and after the conflict.
In May 1982, he was on the Sheffield’s bridge when he was asked to
‘I went to make tea and by the time the kettle had boiled all the men I had just been talking to were killed’
fetch hot water for tea. By the time he had waited for the kettle to boil, “all the men I had just been talking to were killed”, he said. A missile had hit the ship, killing 20. He saw a “fireball” head towards him he knew he could not save his shipmates.
He later developed post-traumatic stress disorder and, for 14 years, he attempted to keep it hidden, despite the symptoms seriously affecting his life. He couldn’t drive at night as the headlights of cars reminded him of the burning light of the missile while going to the supermarket was difficult because of the noise, and he always had to plan an escape route out of whatever room he is in.
The support of the Royal British Legion and his wife, Louise, who listened to him when he “poured it all out to her” have proved invaluable.
The sunshine at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire yesterday was in stark contrast to the
freezing temperatures Lt Col Gary Green, 59, remembers facing on the islands.
The Royal Marine said: “We occupied Mount Kent for four or five days with no kit. It was minus temperatures
with blizzards and no shelter … we went without food for a while and we drank from puddles with sterilising tablets. I was young and naive at 19, and I grew up in the Falklands.”
Proceedings at the arboretum
yesterday were led by Sir Max Hastings, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, who reported on the war. The Welsh Guards’ band played, assisted by the Aurum Vocale choir.
Boris Johnson paid tribute to those
who lost their lives. He said that when looking at photos of “unkempt and unshaven” soldiers in the conflict he was struck by “how their eyes and their faces are filled with pride in what they’ve achieved”.