I served twenty eight years in the Royal Navy. between 1976 (aged 16) until 2005 (aged 47). I enjoyed every minute of my time. As an institution it taught me how to stand up for myself properly. In a time which was fraught with tremendous technological and geo political changes. But I was lucky at times.
From 1978 until 1982, I moved in promotion terms from a junior naval air mechanic to an aircraft artificer, then called "Mechanicians".
I had no GCSEs when I left Evelyns comprehensive school all those years ago when Mr Babuta taught me English and Mr Amin, Mathematics. But, by 1982, I had 2 GCSEs (Maths and English) and a BTEC Diploma in Air Engineering disciplines, equivalent to an Ordinary National Certificate, (ONC).
The year I was to leave the Air Engineering School at HMS Daedalus (Lee-On-The Solent), it was the year of the Falklands Conflict. I was to become a Petty Officer Artificer in six months and I was then 23 years old. Our whole class was to get a bye on our six months left of course and were set to board the Ocean liner, SS Canberra. The ship ,at that time was operating with P&O on their service between the United Kingdom and Australasia and she had been designed to carry 548 first-class passengers and 1,650 tourist class.
On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which initiated the Falklands War. At the time, Canberra was cruising in the Mediterranean. The next day, her captain Dennis Scott-Masson received a message asking his time of arrival at Gibraltar, which was not on his itinerary. When he called at Gibraltar, he learnt that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had requisitioned Canberra for use as a troopship. Canberra sailed to Southampton, Hampshire where she was quickly refitted, sailing on 9 April for the South Atlantic and waiting for our Artificer Course to join the crew, where it was ordered that we could finish our training (6 months), in the field or in the Falklands.
Luck Strikes
On 28th May 1982 Lieutenant Colonel H Jones was commanding 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment on operations on the Falkland Islands. The Battalion was ordered to attack enemy positions in and around the settlements of Darwin and Goose Green.
A number of casualties were received. In order to read the battle fully and to ensure that the momentum of his attack was not lost, Colonel Jones took forward his reconnaissance party to the foot of a re-entrant which a section of his Battalion had just secured. Despite persistent, heavy and accurate fire the reconnaissance party gained the top of the re-entrant, at approximately the same height as the enemy positions.
Colonel Jones's personal leadership and action and his total disregard for his own safety, charged the nearest enemy position and action which exposed him to fire from a number of trenches. He was hit by fire from another trench which he outflanked, and fell dying only a few feet from the enemy he had assaulted. A short time later a company of the Battalion attacked the enemy, who quickly surrendered and it was the display of courage by Colonel Jones that ended the War because the Argentinians will had been completely undermined causing their will to fight further to cease.
The Battle of Goose Green thus changed my destiny, the Canberra still sailed but not with my Artificer course members and we continued to learn about fixing battle damaged aircraft for a further six months. I thought how lucky we were passing out as Petty Officers and not participating in the conflict. But this was short lived as my first posting as a Petty Officer Artificer was to join the Mobile Aircraft Repair, Transportation and Salvage Unit (MARTSU) which was based at Lee-On-The Solent.
And so six months after being promoted as a POAEA(M) V G Taylor, D156151E ended up seconded to a MARTSU repair team of 4 artificers led by an experienced Chief Petty Officer called Dennis Hussey. Whereupon, others posted to MARTSU (those who I was on course with), went to Yeovil and to other UK bases, my luck changed again, for my repair team were tasked to repair an Army Gazelle.........
......................................in the Falklands.
We set off from Brize Norton and arrived at Ascension Island. It was really hot and we stayed in what was called concertina city, so called because the huts built to house stationed RAF personnel and other services were connected with and by massive lines of concertina type tubing to which air conditioning cold air was pumped into the accommodation units.
Ascension was therefore a manned the Island which acted as a forward operating base and stop off point for troops making there way to the Falklands by air, breaking here for a day, before then flying us all on to Port Stanley. The whole journey was to take 17 hours sitting in a troop seat in Hercules, (C-130) aircraft - all the way -with just a rest for my bum at Ascension.
After a bumpy landing at "Stanley" airport, (because the runways had been damaged six months earlier and were still being repaired); we took a jeep to the place again on bumpy roads, where our team would work for the next three weeks. Our lodgings were to be on a New Zealand liner called the Rangatira (technically, I guess it was my first ship).
The sea plane hangar, where the damaged aircraft was to be repaired by us had long nine inch nails hammered into the interior sides of its walls and white (now yellow faded), masking tape lay under each nail; naïvely, I asked what these were and we were informed that this hangar was used to store Argentine war dead. The tape holding the names of dead soldiers.
Every so often, alarms would go off and we were told not to go for any walkabout as IEDs were still around us, as were the wrecks of US made jeeps and Bell Huey choppers which had been used by the Argentinians now left left to rot, as if dumped in the surrounding fields. We learned from those serving around us that they could be restored, and flown or used again - it was just that the Argies had run out of spare parts and money to buy them.
Dennis had been to the Falklands before and was always jumpy, but he had a real experience and always made us laugh. His experience, I learned from himself and the others that he had been with a MASU team on board the Atlantic Conveyor which On 25 May 1982 was hit by two AM39 Air Launched Exocet missiles fired by two Argentine Navy Super Étendard jet fighters. Some of his friends had been killed and all the Harrier aircraft on board were lost when the merchant navy ship sank.
In all twelve men lost their lives in the sinking of Atlantic Conveyor: six from the Merchant Navy, three from the Royal Navy and three from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The sinking also had repercussions for the broader conflict: valuable equipment, including nine helicopters, was lost, meaning that troops had to travel on foot from San Carlos to Port Stanley.
More next time in capturing a life less ordinary ......
Poem
At twenty-three, I was bound
To join a war in the “Falkland Sound”
In navy terms, it was to be "first
ships"
So, we prepared for war and bit our lips
Then, news came up, of H's VC
So that was the end of the war for me
“Not so fast lad, when your course is
thru
You're posted to Stanley, with Dennis
and MASU”
Lucky me, not so lucky for those
Who fought the fight for the UK and Thatcher's foes
17 days of the Falklands experience, brought us all no real desire
But, there was always more to do for my country when under fire