The 45 Commando Signaller’s Log 1982 Introduction

                    Many books have been written and published about the Falkland’s War and the best include accounts of individuals who were there, and some include numerous interviews with the men who sailed with the Task Force to regain those distant islands. Very few tell their stories through the words of the men of an entire unit. The Royal Marines Historical Society has made a special effort to ensure that the memories of many of the Marines who went South have been published. Nick Pound’s ‘A Small Cog’ tells the story of how a light helicopter unit supported the entire campaign on the front line whilst Tony Sickelmore’s ‘In Our Own Words’ sees us in the thick of the action with Lima Company of 42 Commando. Both these authors worked tirelessly to capture the voices of as many of their comrades as possible when writing their books as the 40th anniversary approached.

As the author’s introduction to this work shows others have had a similar thought before. Back in 2002 Steve Parkin and Neil Gribby got very drunk and had an idea. They spent five years collecting in and chivvying the Signallers of 45 Cdo to record their memories and produced some 500 pages of photographs and memories of the men who were uniquely placed to record the war that 45 Commando Royal Marines fought. Some readers may find this manuscript repetitious; it is the first-hand accounts of men who were there, they experienced and recall those events in different ways, it was important to us to include all of their stories. Neither editor nor the authors have attempted to edit the memories of these men. Inevitably, some readers will disagree with the recollection or opinions they express. No offence is intended and we apologies to those who may find some of this uncomfortable reading. The accounts of battles and incidents are graphically seared in the memories of those who fought, and they are recorded in this publication as they were remembered, these are invaluable memories and not statements of fact.

Previously this mammoth work had been circulated to those few who had contributed their accounts and very few selected others. The Royal Marines Historical Society is delighted to have been asked to publish this work and make it available to as many readers as possible. It will be published in nine sections; each will be released online as the 40th Anniversary of the events is reached. It is free to all but has the usual copyright protection of any publication. If enough readers subscribe a bound and printed edition or e-book of the complete work may follow.

 John Rawlinson, Honorary Editor, Royal Marines Historical Society. Warwickshire, January 2022.

Introduction and Acknowledgements

June 2002

                    Royal Marines Barracks Condor, a large group of slightly balding or greying former Royal Marines but still wannabe teenagers stand in the Bewley Hall reminiscing over the years gone by and particularly their remembrances of their part in Operation Corporate 20 Years previously. 45 Commando are having the first big reunion of Falklands veterans and the day is going with a bang as old acquaintances are reunited, good memories and adventures relived and copious amounts of Tennants and McEwans Red Death are consumed.

Somewhere in the heat of the drinking frenzy a voice pipes up “We should write a book about all these dits lads!!” a pause in the drinking for the thought to sink in, several nano seconds later a reply “Yea right, bugger that, give us another beer!!!” the originator then winds his neck in and passes another tin of Tennants as the hubbub of banter, tall stories and implausible dits gets louder.

The weekend goes all too fast and all agree that it has been a fantastic opportunity to meet old friends and also remember friends who never came back from those wet and windy islands so far away, islands that have played such an important part in all our lives since we first heard of them so long ago.

A few days later back at home in Plymouth with the hangover cleared up and the reunion a happy memory I get a phone call, “Eh up duck! it’s Neil Gribby. You remember talking about writing a book? I was thinking, why don’t we have a go?.....”

June 2007

Five years later and three weeks to go before the 25th Anniversary, we have been putting together the book together since that conversation, when I say book, I really mean memories of a Signals Troop, a diary of random memories roughly and inexpertly thrown together in some form of chronological order. We thought that we would have it in the bag within months of starting, with everyone pitching in with page loads of diary excerpts, random thoughts, funnies, newspaper cuttings and photographs. How innocent and naïve were we?..”

We have had all of those things now, but it has taken a lot of cajoling and nagging to get our inherently lazy ex comrades to put pen to paper or indeed fingers to keyboards. After all those years it was not possible to trace everyone, although our long arms of investigation reached out to Pete Wilkin in Australia, Dave Knapton in the USA, Ian Simpson in Norway and even Ollie Myatt on an oil rig off the coast of Africa, maybe we should have been Mounties?

Some of the guys we tracked down were very keen on the idea and responded immediately with lengthy contributions (Eddie Corsar and Brian Harley) which probably fuelled our over optimistic time frames, however others were not as timely in their responses as our previous hierarchy and others made it plain that their time in the Corps was just a distant memory in their lives and they had no inclination to relive those times for whatever reason which they have every right to do.

From a Troop in 1982 that numbered approximately 52 (Not including all the AWD guys attached and Wrens in Condor) we received contributions from 30 guys which is around 60% so we have covered off most areas of the troops activities in some detail. Whoever supplied contributions thank you, the troop nominal is part of this story so we will not name everyone here, we hope we have managed to put your efforts in the right place and in the right context, obviously the memory fails as the year goes by and maybe some of the dates and facts have become hazy, we have made minor corrections where necessary but have left the contributions as they were submitted, spelling mistakes as well. Some contentious issues are mentioned, and we have exercised some editorial right to prevent any distress or upset, we would add however that any comments from contributors are their personal thoughts and do not reflect any official opinion, as previously stated memories are fallible as the years go by and recall can get mixed with myth and hearsay to produce inaccurate "facts" and opinions.

As proud signallers we feel that "our story" is a summary of the whole Commandos activities down south, Signals troop was involved in every possible aspect of the Commando story, from Recce troop, Rifle Companies, Cdo HQ, B Ech, Supporting arms, through to being on HMS Antelope on the way down, as well as Canberra, RFAs Stromness, Resource, Sir Percival, Sir Tristram, HMS Intrepid and also on the RFA Sir Galahad when she got hit, we even had our Troop Sgt Major sailing the seven seas (inadvertently!) throughout and seeing other aspects of the campaign beyond East Falkland. Unfortunately, we were not without our share of injuries, and we had guys who were casevaced on the yomp, wounded during the final battle and also severely injured in the tragic bombing at Ajax bay, so they have their tales to tell as well.

We hope that we have done justice to all these contributions, it’s not on par with Bravo Two Zero as an arse kicking war hero saves the world type of read, but it is the real thoughts of real guys, serving in the Royal Marines at a time when the world was a different place to today.

Britain had not been tested militarily for a long time and the resources available were certainly not as good as they should have been after years of defence cuts. Despite all this we who took part showed that the British Military man and particularly Royal Marines could overcome serious adversity, from both the enemy, weather, geography and even our own hierarchy. The Falklands campaign was short in timescale and small as major conflicts go, the whole campaign lasted less than 3 months; there were a total of 255 British and 655 Argentine dead as well as three Falkland Island civilians, however the distance (8000 miles) and remoteness of the area made it an unusual and special conflict and the Signals Troop was but a tiny cog in the overall picture. It may only be of interest to those who contributed as the overall historical story of the Falklands has been told in far more detail on many occasions, but it is a record of a Commando Signals Troop by the guys and for the guys on a special anniversary.

Alongside the actual members of the troop supplying us with details and info we are also indebted to a number of people who have gone out of their way to assist with a genuine interest in our story. The RSM, Pat Chapman assisted with many bits of information so we had the correct details regarding those members of the troop we could not actually track down. John Ambler, the Picture Archivist at the Royal Marines Museum in Eastney has been a stalwart supporter, allowing us to delve through the photographic archives on many occasions and allowing us to use many images. As part of that deal, we shall be supplying the museum with a copy of this tale, maybe in the future it will be of some use to future students of Corps history.

From the present-day Falklands, we would like to thank Tim Cotter and Colin-Patterson Smith of the Falkland Islands Museum and Mrs Julie Courteney, the Senior House Parent at Stanley House for their assistance in sourcing info on Stanley house and also providing pictures of port Stanley and the house itself. Ian Bruce and Charles Lawrence of the Glasgow Herald and Sunday Telegraph respectively both took the time to send their memories and photographs of their time attached to the unit down south which provided some interesting material regarding the troop. Peter Robinson, the Chairman of the RFA Association (London Branch) sent us some excellent information about the RFA Stromness, particularly the ships diary for the campaign which was very detailed and allowed us to date lots of contributions from other areas.

 Finally, the last Acknowledgement is to a special group who will never read this, they stayed behind after we left the islands in 1982, 25 years later we still remember them as though it was only yesterday, some are names we know from the lists, others are friends, all are still missed. This collection of memoires is dedicated to them, and the guys of 45 Commando who did come back and their families.

                                         MNE P D CALLAN                          SGT R ENEFER
                                        CPL K EVANS                                 CPL P R FITTON
                              SGT R A LEEMING               MNE G C MacPHERSON
                              L/CPL P B McKAY                 MNE M J NOWAK
                              MNE K PHILLIPS                  CPL I F SPENCER
                                        CPL A B UREN                                MNE D WILSON
                                        SPR C A JONES

Note: The narrative is contributed by everyone, but to clarify, any text that is not in bold is written by Steve, everyone else has a credit to their tomes. It was thought that one contribution running throughout might help to keep the story glued together and provide some continuity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Steve and Neil Bristol/Nottingham May 20

Part 1 will be published on 2nd April 2022. with each successive installment posted on the 40th Anniversary of the events.

Part 1 Condor/Pompey/Prior Embarkation (2-7 April 1982)

 Part 2 Departure/Voyage Down South (6 April 17 April 1982)

 Part 3 Ascension – South Atlantic ( April-21 may 1982)

 Part 4 Landings (20/21 May 1982)

 Part 5 Ajax Bay (21 – 27 May 1982)

 Part 6 Yomp (27 May - 4 June 1982)

 Part 7 Mount Kent/Two Sisters (4-12 June 1982) 

 Part 8 Journey/Homecoming 23 June - 8 July 1982

 Part 9 The Final Chapter - Where are then now?