FALKLANDS 25 PILGRIMAGE - SAMA(82) - The Association for all holders of the South Atlantic Medal for Service during the Falklands War in 1982

FALKLANDS 25
PILGRIMAGE

Chairman's Final Report

As I sat down to write this article, about the extraordinary event that took place in November, I thought I could do worse than reproduce some of my article for the Penguin News which I wrote before we left Stanley, some 2 weeks ago now, which is beginning to feel like a lifetime! This was written as a thank you to those wonderful people - the Falkland Islanders, and says much of what I want to say to you.

Message begins:
"As we leave the Islands at the end of the 2007 Falklands Veterans Pilgrimage I would like to send a short message to the population of the Islands. This Pilgrimage is the culmination of over 2 years planning from the time that the idea was first discussed. It has been a cooperative venture between SAMA and Combat Stress which has resulted in 250 people being able to make the journey, the majority of whom had not been back since 1982.

There was understandably a degree of apprehension amongst some of the Pilgrims before leaving UK who could not imagine how they would feel arriving back after 25 years. Once on the ground in the Islands it has been a roller coaster of emotions with everyone having their own particular memories or reasons for being here. This was highlighted before we actually arrived by the Monarch Airlines Captain, Bob Tuxford, who flew the leg from Rio to MPA who had been a Victor Tanker pilot during the conflict and highly involved in the Black Buck Vulcan bombing raids.

Having arrived and met our hosts and started on the programme of events, it quickly became clear to everyone that this was going to be a week to remember. The enthusiasm, the generosity, the hospitality and the kindness shown by all of you here in the Islands to us arriving on the Pilgrimage has been completely overwhelming. It is no exaggeration to say that we all feel humbled and eternally grateful for such a display of welcome. It has been a proof, if indeed that were needed, that the achievements of the Task Force in 1982 were so much appreciated by everyone in the Islands. It leaves us with an enormous sense of pride to know that what was accomplished continues to be so important in your lives.

I am especially pleased that the Pilgrimage involved a complete cross section of people involved in Operation Corporate in 1982, including Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Merchant Navy, Nurses, a MOD Civil Servant as well as staff from Combat Stress. Additionally of course we have had the honour to have with us 17 family members of some of the servicemen who did not return in 1982. For them it has been a very emotional trip but I know that they all have found tremendous comfort from the reception that we all received. Probably my abiding memory of the trip, apart from the weather for the Remembrance Day service, will be the willingness of everyone here to go to such extraordinary lengths to help us. This might have been in driving, in accomodating, in going that extra 'mile' to find something out or find a particular location for a Pilgrim - I find myself unable to adequately describe how we appreciate everything that has been done for us.

Before finishing I would like to pay tribute to Gary Clement, his SAMA FI committee and everyone else who has worked so tirelessly to achieve this wonderful event. This has been a magnificent team effort - I wish I could name you all who were involved but I will not try. You know who you were and you have our total gratitude.

Finally, a message to you all from Baroness Thatcher. You may know that she came to our pre-departure reception in London before we left to come here. She wished us a most successful Pilgrimage and also asked me to pass on to all the people of the Falkland Islands her best wishes and thoughts at this time of Remembrance and for the future.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your magnificent efforts for us during the last week - I know that many of us have every intention of keeping in contact and of returning to see you and be with you again in the future."
Message ends.

Looking back I find it difficult to believe that it is all over. However, I also look back on an event that has achieved the aim which was to get a large number of Veterans of the Conflict of 82 back to the Islands for the first time. The benefits of the experience will hopefully be manifesting themselves already.

I remain overwhelmed by the welcome that we received. I know from the messages that I have received since returning that this feeling is shared by all of us who went - how could it not be? And if the Islanders' welcome was legendary, so too was the Islands' weather to remind us of what it was capable. Many of you have said that that was all a significant part of the experience. It certainly guaranteed that many of us came back with colds or worse!

Many people commented to me at the time that it would have been good to be able to stay in the Islands for a longer period. In some ways I agree, but it was decided that a week was the optimum length of time for a number of reasons. Much as the Islanders love having us there, it is nevertheless a huge strain on their resources - most of our hosts and drivers took a week of their annual holiday from work to look after us. There were also a number of our party with commitments back here that would have made a longer trip difficult. Then there is always the saying about leaving while you are still having a good time. I personally would have loved more time there as well, but on reflection I think a week was a fair compromise taking all aspects into account.

I am also pleased that we were able to fit a lot in to such a short time on the ground. The first day with the long snaking drive to San Carlos and the Service at the beautiful cemetery there was an excellent start. From then on, people did whatever they wanted to do and visited the sites that were significant in their memories. Other formal services were held at Fitzroy and Sapper Hill as well as many highly significant and very moving services which were organised by Pilgrims at sites like Longdon, Tumbledown, Pleasant Peak, the Coventry memorial on Pebble Island and the Sheffield memorial on Sea Lion Island. Then there were the services held at sea over the sites of Antelope, Ardent and finally at the site where Glamorgan had been hit. At the latter, as well as wreath laying, the ashes of a Veteran who died recently were also scattered at the site, thus fulfilling his last wishes. These were special and moving services for all who attended. The efforts put in by the SAMA FI committee to ensure that the flights or vessels were available to get us to those offshore sites, were so much appreciated.

The Services at the Liberation Memorial on the Saturday evening followed by the dedication of the benches was our first soaking in our smart kit. For me the memorable thing was the fly-past by the two seagulls! For those of you reading this that were not there it is difficult to relate the timing of this event - suffice to say that we were patiently waiting for two RAF Tornados to do a fly-past when these two birds drifted effortlessly along in front of our assembled squad, giving us all a wonderfully impromptu lighter moment while waiting for the real thing - which when it finally arrived was not two but only one Tornado, one having gone u/s on the way!! The seagulls managed it OK……………! The following day on Remembrance Sunday we all managed to shoe-horn ourselves in to either the Cathedral or the Church Hall adjoining for the Service of Remembrance, including Gus Hales' wonderful poem. Then it was on to the Cross of Sacrifice for our next soaking and the wreath laying and 2 minutes' silence, and this time a fly-past by two Tornados! The walk round the Memorial Wood was a further time to reflect and appreciate the magnificent job done by Tim and Jan Miller in producing such a beautiful dedication.

It was good to have our President, Maj Gen Malcolm Hunt and his wife, Angela, with us for some of the time and also the Minister for Veterans, Derek Twigg who was always ready to listen to Vets and their comments. He has promised to look into the possibility of getting cheaper seats on the RAF Trooping flights to the Falklands in order to help future groups of Vets to return.

And so our Pilgrimage drew to a close. It was back home courtesy of Monarch Airlines again who did do a magnificent job of getting us there and back with excellent food and drink and a most courteous service.

Before closing I would like to make a mention of the members of the two committees involved in putting this whole event together. Gary Clements and his SAMA FI committee were unstinting in their efforts on our behalf and I know that I speak for everyone on the Pilgrimage when I say how much we appreciated everything that they did for us. I am only sorry that I cannot mention everyone's name here who was involved in some way - if I tried I would be sure to miss someone out. My committee in UK have been a delight to work with. They were all highly professional and dedicated to the task in hand. John Phillips (Secretary) and John Jones (Treasurer) both of whom travelled and so were high profile, and then those who did not travel with us - Sukey Cameron from the Falkland Islands Government Office in London, Simon Brewis, a long time member of SAMA and our fund raising advisor and OC Rear Party amongst other things and Peter Poole, the Director of Welfare Services of Combat Stress. I am most grateful to them all for their time and energy over a long period. It was also a pleasure to have the team of staff from Combat Stress with us on the Pilgrimage. I am grateful for their hard work and important presence on the ground with our party. I am also grateful to Tony Davies and his staff at the Union Jack Club for the weekend prior to departure which did make an excellent start to the Pilgrimage.

Will there ever be another Pilgrimage of this type? I do not have the answer to that question but I think it is fair to say that it will not happen again in the near future. Instead, the efforts of the SAMA committee are going to be devoted to getting smaller parties of Vets back to the Islands in order to clear the backlog of those who applied to go on this Pilgrimage but were not lucky enough to be drawn out of the hat. These are in addition to the names that are already held on the central list. Malcolm Simpson, our highly impressive 'Pilgrimage RSM', will be assuming this responsibility.

My final word is to thank all of those who came for your good humour, tolerance and friendship. I hope to see many of you again in the future whether it be at SAMA AGMs or at other reunions or events.

Mike Bowles
2007 Pilgrimage Committee Chairman

Home Page : : Archive

SAMA(82) : : Combat Stress : : MoD Veterans Agency : : Falkland Islands Government :