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Falklands 40: Service commemorates Task Force preparations

BBC A memorial service was held at the dockside at Marchwood military portBBC
A memorial service was held at the dockside at Marchwood military port

A service has been held to commemorate work done to prepare the Falklands Task Force after the islands were invaded.

Argentine forces landed on the British territory in the South Atlantic in April 1982, prompting the task force to be readied to sail to liberate the islands within days.

The event at Marchwood military port brought together veterans of the Falklands War and serving personnel.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) lost seven men during the Falklands War.

The RFA vessel Galahad
The RFA vessel Galahad was among those lost during the Falklands War

Following the invasion, both military and civilian elements worked together at Marchwood, given three days notice over a bank holiday weekend to help launch a task force.

More than 100 members of 17 Port and Maritime Regiment were deployed to the South Atlantic for the 74-day conflict, providing logistical support for the campaign.

Members of the regiment were dispatched to assist at ports throughout the UK, including Plymouth and Liverpool.

John Goleczka
John Goleczka served at Marchwood in 1982

John Goleczka, a lieutenant with 52 Port Squadron based at Marchwood in 1982-3, said the service "brought back a lot of memories".

He said: "I look around now and there are a lot of things I remember - it was hectic, it was organised.

"We did our very best - there was a lot of troops, vehicles, a lot going on and it had to happen very quickly."

Richard Williams, who was second in command of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Bedivere, said: "It brings back all the memories of sailing from here in 1982, surviving being bombed on a ship at San Carlos, doing the necessary and eventually getting home to a wife who was four months pregnant when I left, and eight and a half months pregnant when I got back."

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What was the Falklands War?

On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a remote UK territory in the South Atlantic.

Argentina said it had inherited the islands from Spain in the 1800s and wanted to reclaim sovereignty of them.

The UK, which had ruled the islands for 150 years, quickly chose to fight, leading to a brief but bitter war lasting 74 days.

In the fighting that followed, 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen lost their lives, as did three Falkland Islanders.

British forces regained control of the Falklands on 14 June 1982.

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