Falklands veterans aim to "recreate the camaraderie" of serving

Monday 09 April 2018

A group of veteran Channel Islanders who served in the Falklands War are looking for others to help them “recreate the camaraderie” of serving in the conflict.

The 1982 Falklands War – a bitter battle lasting 74 days that saw 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers killed – may be well-known, but lesser known is the contingent of serviceman from Jersey and Guernsey who took part.

These days, many of those veterans form the South Atlantic Medal Association 1982 (SAMA82) – and they’re now looking to expand their membership.

Open to all people with any involvement to the Falklands War or 1982, whether that be as a veteran, through a family member or just someone who is interested, the group plan to host events for upcoming anniversaries. 

The group had its first meeting on Guernsey last Autumn at Les Coitils, and around 14 veterans and their family members attended to share their stories with each other.

Tim Slann (pictured above, left), the CI Branch's representative, said: "We are really just looking to see what kind of reaction we get and see if people come forward. It is in its infancy but hopefully start to gain some momentum. Its the 36th anniversary this year, so in four years we might look to do a big pan-island meet up for the 40th."

Pictured: HMS Intrepid, on which Mr Slann was a Leading Hand and engineer during the conflict.

"When you're in the military you have a lot of camaraderie, and when you leave, you lose it, just like that. Hopefully we can take this forwards and recreate that environment for people - it is always great to get to speak to get back to how it was in that sense." 

He added that if there was enough interest, there were also plans to host more regular meet ups and events.

Graham Williams has been helping Mr Slann raise awareness as one of the members of the Guernsey branch. He added: "the thing about the Falklands is it wasn't all about standing and fighting - there have been bigger conflicts since - but it was all about the logistics. It was so far away from Britain that it took a huge amount of work to get everything ready - and behind that were huge amounts of people. We want them to come forward too. 

"We know some people who were involved aren't going to want to, but we think there will be some who just don't know we exist." 

Mr Slann was a Leading Hand and an engineer on HMS Intrepid during the conflict. He became the Channel Islands representative after enquiring about any local SAMA82 groups - he is now attending the national AGM later in the month. 

More information about the national group can also be found here, where you can apply for membership and see further details about the history of the conflict.