MORE THAN 200 relatives of 90 recently identified Argentine soldiers who lost their lives in the 1982 war travelled to the Falkland Islands on 26 March to visit their newly marked graves. A total of 122 graves to unidentified Argentine soldiers were exhumed as part of a joint project between the UK, Falkland Islands and Argentine Governments and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A forensic team exhumed, analysed and documented the remains in each of the unidentified graves in the Argentine cemetery at Darwin in the Falkland Islands over a seven week period between 7 June and 20 August, 2017.
Argentina’s Secretary for Human Rights, Claudio Avruj, accompanied the families. Retired British Army Colonel Geoffrey Cardozo, who was responsible for burying the Argentine dead with sensitivity and respect immediately after the conflict, was also present.
Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan MP said:“I welcome this visit to the Argentine cemetery at Darwin by family members of the recently identified Argentine soldiers. This important humanitarian project, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, will provide some comfort to the families of the deceased. When visiting the cemetery the families will find their loved ones properly identified and in a place of great dignity.”
The visit included a religious ceremony conducted by Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, Bishop Eguia Segui, and the Right Reverand Abbott Hugh Allan from the United Kingdom. Brigadier ‘Baz’ Bennett, OC British Forces (South Atlantic), oversaw the provision of military honours with a Scottish piper and British military honour party.
Breaking The Ice
Whilst having the appearance of a Bugs Bunny-style navigational error, the Trafalgar-class fleet submarine HMS Trenchant dramatically breached a metre of Arctic sea ice as part of Ice Exercise 18 (ICEX) this March as part of a series of demanding trials for the submarine’s crew. During the major exercise, Trenchant joined two American submarines, the USS Connecticut and USS Hartford, while crews and scientists conducted their research on the ice in conditions as cold as -40°C. Additionally, the crew paused for a service to remember two submariners killed on an ICEX in 2007, after an accident onboard HMS Tireless.
