Very Good News - Thanks to The UK For Its Behaviour

[Ovidio]

I just finished reading the newspaper and am very glad about what I read.
After 35 years, the British have started the identification of many fallen Argentinian soldiers of the Falklands war.
88 of them now rest in Darwin in a cemetery under their own name, allowing families to mourn them and to, maybe, close a painful chapter in their lives.
The article tells about the mother of a soldier named Elbio Eduardo, who decided to let him rest in Darwin, where the “enemy” will certainly take better care of him than his own fellow nationals.
There are apparently still high tensions in Argentina about the war for the Malvinas, and a bust of this poor soldier has been recently vandalised.
The identification has been made possible by the thorough work of a British Captain, who at the time recovered the bodies from the temporary graves where the Argentinians, in total disarray, buried them. Captain Geoffrey Cardozo first put them in body bags, then recorded them with indication of where they were recovered, and finally had them buried in a wooden casket in the cemetery, with all honors.
The current distention between Argentina and the UK, as well as the DNA tecnology, allowed this wonderful act of humanity.
As a former soldier, I was deeply moved by this fact, and am really grateful to all people involved.
I’m sure this will make also others glad here on this forum.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Surpmil]

Having exhumed them, why did they not return them to Argentina?

Perfect opportunity missed, and that can only have been deliberate.

Curious.

[oldpaul]

"The article tells about the mother of a soldier named Elbio Eduardo, who decided to let him rest in Darwin"

This implies that there was a choice of where the person was interred. I suspect that despite the territorial war loss, a lot if not most Argentinians consider the Malvinas part of Argentina and therefore their fallen are in home soil regardless whether they are buried on the islands or the mainland. Best. Tom

[Gil Boyd]

The families were indeed given the choice which was theirs to make. Some you can imagine were so bitter about how their Government dealt with the whole process, they wanted their familiy members returned to Argentinia. You will recognise the humanity used by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in those that stayed, and is reflected in the beautiful cemeteries built there after the war.

I started a system called GRAVEWATCH many years ago, and the same personal and private wishes are still listened to in respect of our fallen. For instance many of our Parachute Regiment fallen during the Falklands Campaign are buried in the Aldershot Military Cemetery.

The home then of The Parachute Regiment in 1982, which has since moved to Colchester. The choice was that of the family. I hold and record every Parachute Regiment soldiers grave anywhere in the world. Sadly Silent Valley and Maala cemeteries in Aden,Yemen, have not faired so well. They have both been desicrated by the local militias and we await the right time to put these places right. Luckily all graves are now sighted by GPS!

Benghazi Cemetery in Libya is the same, smashed to pieces. How sad when you consider those British and Commonwealth soldiers that fought and died, and are buried there, provide these thoughtless and mindless thugs with their freedom, they so take for granted today!

Our enemies are ALWAYS buried with dignity and honour, and that same honour is bestowed on our own friends who fell during all conflicts and their graves marked accordingly!
RIP

[mrclark303]

Absolutely Gil. So many people work so hard all over the world to ensure Commonwealth War graves sites are treated with due reverence and respect.

At least in "less enlightened" countries like the Yemen, GPS positioning allows us to virtually Mark grave sites and log occupants, so hopefully one day these brave young men can have their plots and graveyards repaired and restored.

I can only hope the desecration of these sites remains above the ground...

A friend of mine visited the Argentine graveyard in the Falklands a while back and he was touched by how beutifully and respectfully it was maintained.

[Gil Boyd]

One point not commonly known is, that it was only AFTER the Falklands War that ALL British soldiers were automatically repatriated. Of course the families wishes are paramount and some wished their fallen to stay on Falklands soil!

[Surpmil]

One point not commonly known is, that it was only AFTER the Falklands War that ALL British soldiers were automatically repatriated. Of course the families wishes are paramount and some wished their fallen to stay on Falklands soil!

How very curious that the CWGC would reverse its previously ironclad policy of NOT REPATRIATING the dead in the case of the Falkands!

So the British dead get sent home and the Argentinian dead are exhumed, identified and laid out in nice neat rows with individual headstones?

I'm sure it's all just a coincidence that has nothing to do with any non-existent plans to give the Falklands to the Argentinians.

[Bob Womack]

St. Deiniol's Churchyard, Flintshire, Wales

With his brother (my father), Jim, and the next generation, 1996:

Memorial in his hometown, Johnson City, TN, USA:

Bob