No need Jeff. I did the same on 2f I'm still bemused by the random invitation to post drivel about myself on a thread about Margaret Thatcher.
Jeff, Are you suggesting that he may not actually be "a slicer in a boning room"? By the way, is that something like a whore's personal assistant? Haven't heard that occupation before.
The three women clearly were not protected - they were blown to pieces, and describing that by euphemisms such as "dying", "casualties" or "accident" serves only as a screen. It is precisely because I am aware that such things happen that I opposed sending the task force at the time, and campaigned for pursuing other means more vigorously, as other contributors to this thread have emphasised. I also opposed support for the Argentine military junta since its seizure of power in 1976, rather than the cosying up by Margaret Thatcher and her government, as she also supported the equally detestable Pinochet regime in Chile.
As far as I am aware, everything was done to avoid this conflict. Weds 2nd June 1982. Mrs Thatcher offers Argentina last chance to withdraw. If Argentina had withdrawn their troops then these incidents would not have occurred. 'Friendly fire' incident between an SBS patrol and an SAS patrol. Killed in Action: SBS: Sgt I N Hunt. 5th June Gazelle helicopter of 656 Sqn AAC shot down in 'friendly fire' incident. Killed in Action: Army Air Corps: S/Sgt C A Griffin , L/Cpl S J Cockton Royal Signals: S/Sgt J I Baker , Major M L Forge 11th June. House on the outskirts of Stanley hit by British shelling, causing the only civilian casualties of the war. Killed in Action: Mrs Doreen Bonner , Mrs Mary Goodwin , Mrs Susan Whitley and all the others mentioned on this page. http://sama82.org.uk/1982/1982Timeline/June/tabid/138/Default.aspx Maggie was the person who had to make the final decision on what action to take. Which she did and must have been the correct ones, for the people of the Falklands to honour her with a statue. To those who disagree with her decisions, do they have a unique ability to know what would have happened, if the decisions that they prefer were carried out? If so why are they not ruling the world so everyone can live in peace and Harmony.
Interesting thread - including the diversions! Not being a fan of Mrs T, I still think that it's for the Falkland Islanders to choose who they honour and which statues they put up. My only comment is that putting up a bust (for it is a bust, not a statue!) of a politician seems somehow wrong to me. There's a statue of Nelson on a big column in Trafalgar Square. There's not a statue of William Pitt the Younger on a big column in Trafalgar Square. I would have thought a statue of Rear Admiral Sandy (or "Windy"?) Woodward might have been more appropriate. Or of Colonel H Jones. Or of the iconic image of that yomping bloke with the Union Flag flying from a whip antennna on his pack. As an aside, I was at high school in Scotland in '82. My history teacher came in one morning with a letter he'd just received but which had been posted months earlier. He lived in a village in Fife called Falkland. The letter had taken a little bit of a detour before finally getting to him!
To be fair, Falkland is rather more than a village; it is a former royal burgh, including a palace that served as a hunting lodge for the royal Stuarts, whose line merged into English, now British, royalty, The burgh also gave its name to the viscountcy held by the Carey family, and when the south Atlantic archipelago was titled by the English c 1600, the name Falkland Islands was chosen, in honour of the then Viscount Falkland, Treasurer of the navy.
Hi Drayton, Everything you say is correct but taking away the rather large palace, it's not a big place! Cheers Ian PS - apropos hee-haw, Falkland Palace has the oldest surviving "Real Tennis" court in the world.
