Doncaster museum to commemorate liberation of Falklands with special event
The event will mark the 44th anniversary of the end of the 1982 conflict
A Doncaster museum is to mark the 44th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands with a special commemoration event today (June 14).
The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, in partnership with the Falklands Islands Association, is hosting an event to commemorate the anniversary of the Argentine surrender and the liberation of the British islands in the South Atlantic on 14 June 1982.
The event will be attended by a number of VIP guests including Falklands war veterans, Falkland islanders, local politicians including Baroness Winterton and members of the FIA executive committee and SYAM Board of Trustees.
The museum holds the UK's largest permanent collection dedicated to the Falklands War including aircraft flown by both sides of the conflict, first-hand accounts from veterans and islanders and information regarding the time since the war and the impact it had.
The day will feature a live link between the events taking place at the museum, and those 8,000 miles away at Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, allowing the commemorations held there to be viewed in real time from around the world for the first time.
A wreath laying at the museum's on-site dedicated memorial to the 255 British service personnel and three islanders will follow the Last Post and a short service.
It was on April 2 of that year that Argentina invaded the British islands in the South Atlantic, sparking a brief but bloody battle which saw the United Kingdom claim victory and regain the islands after the Argentine surrender on June 14.
Hatfield-born Capt Ian North, 57, skipper of Merchant Navy cargo ship Atlantic Conveyor died on May 25, 1982 after the ship was hit by two Exocet missiles while Edlington Para Private Stephen Illingsworth was just 20 years old when he was shot by an Argentine sniper during the recapture of Goose Green on May 28.
And on June 12, 1982 Doncaster mourned the loss of its third and final victim when Wheatley sailor Anthony Sillence was killed in the South Atlantic.
Leading Cook Anthony, known as Tony, died just a few days before the Argentine surrender on June 14 when his ship, HMS Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet missile fired from the shore.
He is buried at the San Carlos War Cemetery in the Falkland Islands while there are memorials to Captain North and Private Illingsworth in Doncaster.
Britain suffered 258 casulaties with 649 Argentines killed in the fighting.