Appeal for veterans, family of Falklands to come forward

Thursday 05 April 2018

The Channel Islands' branch of SAMA82 - the South Atlantic Medal Association 1982 - is looking to expand its membership.

Open to all people with any involvement to the Falklands War, whether that be as a veteran, through a family member or just someone who is interested, the group plan to host events for upcoming anniversaries and to "recreate the camaraderie" of having served in the conflict.

The group had its first meeting on Guernsey last Autumn at Les Cotils, and around 14 veterans and their family members attended to share their stories with each other.

Tim Slann, the CI Branch's representative, said: "We are really just looking to see what kind of reaction we get and see if people come forward. It is in its infancy but hopefully start to gain some momentum. Its the 36th anniversary this year, so in four years we might look to do a big pan-island meet up for the 40th."

"When you're in the military you have a lot of camaraderie, and when you leave, you lose it, just like that. Hopefully we can take this forwards and recreate that environment for people - it is always great to get to speak to get back to how it was in that sense."

He added that if there was enough interest, there were also plans to host more regular meet ups and events.

Graham Williams has been helping Mr Slann raise awareness as one of the members of the Guernsey branch. He added: "the thing about the Falklands is it wasn't all about standing and fighting - there have been bigger conflicts since - but it was all about the logistics. It was so far away from Britain that it took a huge amount of work to get everything ready - and behind that were huge amounts of people. We want them to come forward too.

"We know some people who were involved aren't going to want to, but we think there will be some who just don't know we exist."

Above: HMS Intrepid.

Mr Slann was a Leading Hand and an engineer on HMS Intrepid during the conflict. He became the Channel Islands representative after enquiring about any local SAMA82 groups - he is now attending the national AGM later in the month.

If you are interested in enquiring further about SAMA82 in either Jersey or Guernsey, you can email SAMA82.gsy@gmail.com. More information about the national group can also be found here, where you can apply for membership and see further details about the history of the conflict.

Top: L-R Tim Slann and Graham Williams.