Previous | Next :: Paying Respects to your Fallen Enemy : Blue Beach Cemetery : The Falkland Islands / Las Malvinas | September 15, 2011, 1:45 pm

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I heard on the radio last night that a British oil exploration company 'Rockhopper' claims it has found and will be extracting oil from beneath the sea close to The Falkland Islands ....... or Las Malvinas........ as it is also known..........

I once went to the Falkland/Malvinas Islands myself........ with my friend the writer and former Paratrooper Ken Lukoviak......... he had previously fought there........ As a British soldier for 'Queen and Country'..... against the conscript army of the then military dictator of Argentina...........

It was a very emotional return for Ken....... to be back at the scenes of the battles...... Goose Green........ Mount Longdon....... Wireless Ridge.......... where the heavily out numbered Brits had fought without any element of surprise against dug in Argentinean positions ......... In these desolate battle fields Ken had lost friends ........ and had fought for his life and those of his comrades......... to stay alive and to triumph......... they had killed others .............. other soldiers ...... other young men born under a different flag.

For him it was equally emotional to visit the Argentinean graves as to visit the graves of his friends and fellow British Paratroopers.

This picture is made at Blue Beach Cemetery where the fallen Argentinean soldiers are buried....... Such a lonely windswept seemingly God forsaken place......... the bodies were not repatriated because as far as Argentina is concerned Las Malvinas is part of Argentina........ they are buried on home soil...........

But this really was a tragic place were the graves of the young conscripts although kept well...... are never actually visited ......... not by the locals........... as these men were part of the hated occupying enemy force ......... unvisited by their own families........ as to visit from Argentina was impossible at the time.

Only visited on this rare occasion by a former British soldier............. who had been their enemy........ even the killer of some.........

But someone who knew what it was to be a soldier......... someone who knew all to well what it was to fight with your comrades against your enemies on these desolate islands in particular ..............

Ken stood in silence and contemplation he was deeply moved to be at this tragic abandoned place....... to be one of only a tiny few British vets who had ever had the opportunity to return to the South Atlantic........ to come to Blue Beach Cemetery to show his respect at the graves of his fallen enemies..

Ken was silent for a long while. He insisted our drivers..... some local youth...... show the proper respect. When they started to chat mess about and listen to music at the gate by their vehicles........... He shouted: ' Come On Show some respect......... do you know how many men are buried here ?' ........ 'Not enough' one quipped back............ 'You might not think that if you had to put them here yourself'......... Ken screamed back......... the youths fell silent...........

The discovery and production of oil from beneath the sea around the these disputed islands is bound to raise the tensions once more.

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com

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