Blue Beach Military Cemetery at San Carlos
| Blue Beach Military Cemetery at San Carlos | |
|---|---|
 The Cemetery in 2003 | |
| For British forces | |
| Unveiled | 10 April 1983 |
| Location | 51°34′25.05″S 59°02′12.12″W / 51.5736250°S 59.0367000°W |
| Designed by | Professor Sir Peter Shepheard |
Blue Beach Military Cemetery at San Carlos is a British war cemetery in the Falkland Islands holding the remains of 14 of the 255 British casualties killed during the Falklands War in 1982, and one other killed in early 1984. It is situated close to where 3 Commando Brigade had its initial headquarters after landing on 21 May 1982.
Up until 1982 all British servicemen killed in action were buried and commemorated as close to the place of death as possible and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission managed these graves.[1]
After the
The families of 16 of the dead kept with tradition and preferred their sons' remains should stay in the islands. Fourteen are buried at Port San Carlos with two more at isolated single grave sites at Goose Green and Port Howard. The fifteenth person interred at Port San Carlos is Captain John Belt of the Army Air Corps, who died in a helicopter crash in January 1984.
Design
In 1982, at the request of the
.The cemetery is surrounded by a 3 feet (1 metre) high wall with a small entrance open to the beach in the style of a stone sheep corral. Opposite the entrance, the wall is tapered higher with seven slate panels, six with the Regiment, Name, Rank and Service of the fallen and one with the three Forces' Emblems and the following inscription;
1982
APRIL–JUNE
IN HONOUR OF
THE SOUTH ATLANTIC TASK FORCE
AND TO THE ABIDING MEMORY OF
THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AND WHO
HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA
HERE BESIDE THE
GRAVES OF THEIR COMRADES THIS
MEMORIAL RECORDS THEIR NAMESGIVE GLORY TO THE LORD AND
DECLARE HIS PRAISE IN THE ISLANDS
The site is divided into two sections each with seven graves. The section on the right is known as the Airborne Cemetery as it contains the remains of four
On 21 May 2002, the 20th anniversary of the landings, a service of remembrance was held at the cemetery. Over 300 islanders and personnel from the garrison joined the Falklands Governor, in remembering those who lost their lives in the campaign. Ahead of this ceremony, the cemetery landscaping around the graves was overhauled and refreshed through the installation of timber boards, gravel infill, and planting. This work was organised through and carried out by contracting organisations employed at the Mount Pleasant military base.
- National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire
On 20 May 2012, a duplicate of the San Carlos Memorial was dedicated at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire England. The official dedication, which was attended by The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines also marked the 30th anniversary of the landings.
Speaking at the ceremony, the widow of Lieutenant-Colonel H Jones, Sara, described the memorial as a "Fitting tribute to the members of the Task Force who gave their lives".[4]
Breakdown of the casualties
A total of 255 British servicemen and 3 female Falkland Island civilians were killed during the Falklands War.[5]
- Royal Navy – 86 + 2 Hong Kong laundrymen[6]
- Royal Marines – 27 (2 officers, 14 NCOs and 11 marines)[7]
- Royal Fleet Auxiliary – 4 + 4 Hong Kong laundrymen[8]
- Merchant navy – 6 + 2 Hong Kong sailors[8]
- British Army – 123 (7 officers, 40 NCOs and 76 privates)[9][10][11]
- Royal Air Force – 1 (1 officer)[8]
- Falkland Islands civilians – 3 women killed by British shelling.
174 were buried at sea, or lost with their aircraft/ships and their remains not recovered. These are controlled sites under the
- HMS Invincible – 1
- HMS Sheffield –20
- Sea King –1+22
- HMS Ardent – 22
- Sea Harrier– 3
- HMS Argonaut –2
- HMS Coventry – 18
- MV Atlantic Conveyor – 12
- LC Foxtrot 4 of HMS Fearless – 6
- Bluff Cove–54
- HMS Glamorgan –13
Buried in other places
- Lt Nick Taylor RN, shot down over Goose Green by radar-controlled, 35mm Oerlikon fire from GADA 601as he ran in to attack. Argentine forces buried Taylor with military honours close to where his plane crashed.
- Captain Gavin Hamilton is buried at Port Howard on West Falkland, where he was killed when his observation post was uncovered by Argentine commandos at Many Branch point.[12]
- Two of three Falkland Civilians killed during the war, Doreen Bonner and Mary Goodwin, were buried in Port Stanleyafter the war. Susan Whitely was interred on Sea Lion Island, the most southerly inhabited island in the Falklands.
Three more deaths may be attributed to
- Captain Brian Biddick from SS Uganda underwent an emergency operation on the voyage to the Falklands, was repatriated by an RAF medical flight to the hospital at Wroughton, where he died on 12 May.[13]
- Marine Engineering Mechanic Paul Mills, from HMS Coventry, suffered complications from a skull fracture sustained in the sinking of his ship and died on 29 March 1983. He is buried in his home town of Swavesey.[16]
See also
- Argentine Military Cemetery – near Darwin Settlement, it holds the remains of 237 Argentine casualties
- Grytviken Cemetery – which holds the remains of Félix Artuso, an Argentinian submarine officer who was killed in the 1982 British recapture of South Georgia from Argentina
References
- ^ Keegan, John (2 June 2006). "We'll miss our corners of a foreign field". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ "British families protest Falklands burial for troops". The Michigan Daily. Associated Press. 2 June 1982. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- ^ Colonel J D Sankey commander C Company 1 R Irish at Kelly’s Garden base at San Carlos 1984
- ^ The Press Association Falklands War memorial unveiled[dead link]
- ^ Roll of Honour – Databases – Falklands War 1982
- ^ "list". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ "list". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ a b c "Falkland Islands – A history of the 1982 conflict". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ "Para". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Archived from the original on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ "SAS". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Archived from the original on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ "rest of army". Raf.mod.uk. 1 October 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ISBN 1740596439
- ^ HMHS Uganda History
- ^ Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy – 1980–1989 – in date, ship/unit & name order
- ^ "HMS Glamorgan – Falklands War 35th Anniversary". Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
- ^ Swavesey St Andrew Roll of Honor
External links
- San Carlos remembrance page
- Pictorials
- Summers, Julie (2010). "Commemoration of the War Dead Since 1945". British and Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Oxford: Shire Publications. ]