0:00:02 > 0:00:04This rugged and beautiful landscape
0:00:04 > 0:00:07was once the scene of a short, but brutal conflict.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12In 1982, a small British Overseas Territory
0:00:12 > 0:00:15in the South Atlantic, known as the Falkland Islands,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17was invaded by Argentina.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26A task force set sail from Britain to reclaim the islands -
0:00:26 > 0:00:31over 100 vessels and nearly 26,000 men and women.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Some were as young as 18.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38It was the moment I was... Basically, I was robbed of my youth.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43I don't think anybody, as a 19-year-old,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45should witness that much death.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49The British defeated the Argentines in just three and a half weeks,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51and returned home victorious.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55But what happened after the parades were finished
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and the flags were put away?
0:00:57 > 0:00:59I just blanked it at first.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01I was still young.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05But as I grew older, it started eating away at me, like.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09One of the veterans has used art to cope with his trauma.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I think a lot of the pain that I suffered from the Falklands,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14I've kind of alleviated it with being able to do art
0:01:14 > 0:01:18connected with it. So I'm lucky that I have that safety valve.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21We'll use his animations
0:01:21 > 0:01:23to explore how fighting a war
0:01:23 > 0:01:26continues to affect soldiers, even decades later.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31It's a devil, really, because you can't see the injury.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Everybody thinks you're all right but underneath, you're screaming.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36'And now, Panorama.'
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Good evening.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The government, the country, perhaps the world itself sits
0:01:53 > 0:01:54precariously balanced this evening
0:01:54 > 0:01:55between terrible fighting
0:01:55 > 0:01:59and a peaceful solution to the Falklands Crisis.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01The first time I heard about the Falklands I thought,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03"They've got a cheek, trying to come in to Scotland."
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Because that's where I thought the Falklands Islands was.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Panorama is following a group of former Welsh Guards
0:02:11 > 0:02:15who have remained friends as they fly 8,000 miles
0:02:15 > 0:02:16back to the Falklands
0:02:16 > 0:02:21to confront their demons for the first time in 35 years.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23As teenagers, they knew little
0:02:23 > 0:02:25of what they were getting themselves into.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29When you're 19 years of age, you are... You're Superman.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31You can walk through walls. You are indestructible.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34You are the master of the Universe. You've got...
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Everything's in front of you.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Yeah, 19-year-old, not a care in the world.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Nothing at all.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43The world is my oyster, you know.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47For all their youthful bravado,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51all were affected by their exposure to the horrors of war
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and still bear the psychological scars.
0:03:00 > 0:03:0453-year-old Nigel O'Keefe is divorced and lives alone.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09When I first moved here,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11my kids used to come here all the time, but...
0:03:13 > 0:03:18..because of my alcohol problems, they've stopped coming now. And...
0:03:19 > 0:03:23..that's what I miss a lot, my kids.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27It's not their fault. It's my fault.
0:03:29 > 0:03:30But I have grandkids now and...
0:03:33 > 0:03:36My kids don't want them to see that, you know?
0:03:36 > 0:03:38They want to put me in a nice light, not...
0:03:39 > 0:03:41..nonsense I don't want to throw at them, you know.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48Like many veterans,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Mick Hermanis suffers from survivor guilt.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55I've got the dread of my life to go back.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57It's very, very daunting for me.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00We had the highest losses from the British Army.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02We left a lot of really good friends down there.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10It has affected me. It was diagnosed with PTSD about 20-odd years ago.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14I had nightmares for a few years.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Doubted my own sanity and bits and pieces like that,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18getting very angry.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Not for what happened in the Falklands, what happened afterwards.
0:04:21 > 0:04:22The aftermath. You know,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25somebody would say something, and it might be...
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Under normal circumstances, you'd just brush it off.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31I would go absolutely berserk.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Paul Bromwell has suffered from bouts of aggression
0:04:36 > 0:04:37and severe insomnia.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43He runs veteran self-help groups
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and takes care of mistreated horses
0:04:45 > 0:04:49which often exhibit similar signs of anxiety and stress.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53I lost a lot of friends.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I think it marked me for the rest of my life.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58But since then, since I come back,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00I'd have what you'd call a ghost around.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02I see things when I'm sleeping.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06The Army changes you, big time.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Because they empty you of what you were, they make you what they want,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13but then, when you get out, you're still what they want.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15But you don't fit into society any more.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Yeah, what happens is you seem to put a barrier up
0:05:19 > 0:05:21so that the hurt that you're carrying,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23you don't seem to let it out.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25You just keep it in.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27You're taught that way when you're going through training,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and that's one of the principles where they put...
0:05:30 > 0:05:32You get rid of your emotions
0:05:32 > 0:05:38and you carry on, it doesn't matter, whatever happens, you know?
0:05:38 > 0:05:42But by putting that barrier up, I don't think it ever comes back down.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49A fresh-faced Will Kevans,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53seen here aged 19, worked as part of a detail
0:05:53 > 0:05:57clearing corpses and moving the sick and injured.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00We cleaned up the hospital, and, obviously,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02there'd been a lot of amputations.
0:06:02 > 0:06:03And we...
0:06:03 > 0:06:07I think, 82, Lewis, he picked up and said, "What's this?"
0:06:07 > 0:06:09And he picked this thing up and this foot just fell on the floor.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13And it was like a foot that had been blown off.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17So it was just bits and pieces of people in the hospital
0:06:17 > 0:06:20that we needed to incinerate. That was our detail for the day.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24And this is just all part of the journey for me.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27This is the catalyst.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And now the journey, going back to the Falklands.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I guess, reliving it, I suppose. And try to make more sense of it.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36I know it's going to hurt,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39but I just want to go back there and see it through to the end.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The first time these former Welsh Guards arrived on the islands,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49it was on a hastily converted luxury cruise ship, the QE2.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52This time, it's courtesy of the Ministry of Defence
0:06:52 > 0:06:54who supply cheap flights for veterans
0:06:54 > 0:06:57wishing to return to the Falklands.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- Absolutely amazing to be with old friends.- Let's do this!
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I'm extremely excited and ready to rock and roll.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05HE LAUGHS
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Joined by other veterans,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12our group travels to San Carlos where they first arrived in 1982.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15# All right now
0:07:15 > 0:07:18# Baby, it's all right now... #
0:07:18 > 0:07:21This is where we first landed. This is it. This is San Carlos.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Straight on. Straight on.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28It was just ships galore. You could see nothing but ships out there.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32It was absolutely teeming with ships.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34This is what they call Bomb Alley.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It was like as if we'd stepped back in time.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39The guys that was landing on the beach in the Second World War.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42In your head, this is what we were going to do.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46But when we see it, it was just chaos. It was equipment everywhere.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49It was everything blowing in your face.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53And...the biggest shock was how cold it was.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Once landed at San Carlos,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05the infantry needed to carry all equipment on foot,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09including weapons, ammunition and provisions.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Each man was carrying around 60 kilos.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Well, I was carrying, probably, the weight of a human being
0:08:16 > 0:08:18on my back, through ground...
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Well, have a look at what the ground is like around us.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21It's chaos.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Surreal, being back here. It's totally surreal.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Flashback! Are you going to cross the jetty now?
0:08:33 > 0:08:34Rambo!
0:08:34 > 0:08:36HE LAUGHS
0:08:36 > 0:08:41In 1982, British forces marched 90 miles from San Carlos
0:08:41 > 0:08:43to the capital, Port Stanley.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46A combination of tactical factors
0:08:46 > 0:08:49meant that many of the Welsh Guards did not complete this march.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Bad press in the years after the war
0:08:53 > 0:08:56accused them of not having been fit enough to do the march.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Stung by this criticism,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02the men are determined to prove their detractors wrong
0:09:02 > 0:09:07by doing the 90-mile tactical advance to battle, or TAB.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10It's like a pilgrimage, really.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13We want to retrace our steps and do the march that we didn't do
0:09:13 > 0:09:16back in the day that the paras and the marines did.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Their route will take them past significant battlegrounds.
0:09:20 > 0:09:21And along the way,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24each man intends to revisit the scene of a traumatic incident
0:09:24 > 0:09:26which has haunted him ever since.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30- I have a lot of emotions about it. - It's very personal.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32- It's a personal thing. - It's got to be done
0:09:32 > 0:09:36- for the sake of your own sanity and that.- Yeah, for your own sanity.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39It's going to be tough. It's going to be tough.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47But before they hit the road tomorrow,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49the team tuck into their rations,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53something slightly better than they had back in '82.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Look at this lamb. There you are, boys. And the chef, now, right.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59What a job he's done there.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01He uses that term very loosely, chef, mind, all right?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04So we'll be doing Welsh Guards first, then paras.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07THEY LAUGH
0:10:07 > 0:10:09I was just saying really nice things about you...
0:10:17 > 0:10:23Today, the men will march 22 miles from San Carlos to Goose Green.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27It's just a thrill, coming back here and doing this.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30And it's fitting, cos at walking pace,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35your mind is ticking over, and all the memories are unravelling.
0:10:35 > 0:10:36And it's very cathartic.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And I think we're all going to be talking about what happened
0:10:39 > 0:10:43and dealing with the demons that each of us have.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Mick's trauma and survivor guilt
0:10:45 > 0:10:48are embodied in the carrying of his bergen, or army backpack,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52throughout the 90-mile hike to Port Stanley.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57This bag symbolises the baggage I've been carrying for 35 years.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Mental baggage.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04And the weather is virtually identical
0:11:04 > 0:11:05to the way it was back in the day.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11COUGHING
0:11:11 > 0:11:13That's better, that.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Whoa, that's better. That's opened the lungs up.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20That last hill nearly paralysed me.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26I'm bursting for a piss.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36They might be 8,000 miles from home,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38but the weather is decidedly Welsh.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44After five gruelling miles, it all proves too much for Nigel,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47and he's forced to continue the journey by car.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- It's about a mile now.- About a mile, you said that about five miles ago.
0:11:56 > 0:11:5720-odd miles later,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and it's time for some much needed R&R,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03thanks to the hospitality of two locals.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Jan gave us a call to see if we could put them up.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And the answer's always yes.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13My connectivity with this island is so strong,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17and what we did when we were young men, to come back here and fight,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and the respect that the locals have for us,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22it just means so much.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24My foot, I tell you what, I've got this bastard gout.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26I can feel it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29- You've got a bad jobbie there. - I know, they're bad.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Nigel is suffering, too. But not with his feet.
0:12:33 > 0:12:34Apart from his poor general health,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36the return to these islands
0:12:36 > 0:12:38is bringing back some unwanted memories.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Once the joker of the gang,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46seen here on the QE2 en route to the Falklands,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48he has his own demons to deal with.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51One of the problems I have before I came out here,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I'm alcohol dependent.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57I've been alcohol dependent for quite some years and...
0:12:59 > 0:13:02I often ask myself, "Why am I drinking every day and every night,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05"and not stopping?"
0:13:06 > 0:13:08So I have, myself,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10put it down to being over here, I suppose, you know?
0:13:12 > 0:13:13And what happened over here.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Nigel's defining memory of the Falklands War
0:13:18 > 0:13:21was when his platoon found itself in a minefield
0:13:21 > 0:13:22laid by the Argentineans.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26We were advancing. It was pitch-black.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31There was tracers flying everywhere.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33And then a guy from the SAS
0:13:33 > 0:13:35came running up the single-file line
0:13:35 > 0:13:37and told everyone to stop.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40So he said, "We're in a minefield."
0:13:42 > 0:13:45And as soon as he told us that, I could hear this screaming.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51High-pitched, really, really high-pitched screaming
0:13:51 > 0:13:56and I said, "What the hell are women and kids doing out here, like?"
0:13:56 > 0:14:00I found out then it was two Royal Marines
0:14:00 > 0:14:02who'd stepped on antipersonnel mines.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06And that's what the screaming was.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14I've never heard a grown man scream so high-pitched like that.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19# We come together
0:14:19 > 0:14:22# Here we go... #
0:14:24 > 0:14:26To me, in my mind, it's like...
0:14:26 > 0:14:28It was like an old film.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32It is like, "Did that really happen?" and everything.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Maybe now, when I see it again,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36I'll realise it was real, like, no?
0:14:41 > 0:14:45The day doesn't end well for Nigel, as, once more,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47he finds himself unable to cope.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I'm really, really worried about Nigel. He doesn't look very well.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54He's come over all clammy, he's been sick.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56He really shouldn't have come out.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59- It's like Paul said, we shouldn't have bloody brought him.- I know.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03I said, I said... Honestly, I said, let me tell you and all, right?
0:15:03 > 0:15:06- I work with people like that every day.- He wanted to come.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09- It's just it's a tough one, isn't it?- It is a tough one, yeah.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13It's a tough one. But which you have told him, "You can't come"?
0:15:13 > 0:15:17It's a shame because, you know, what we went through 35 years ago,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20it's affected us all in different ways.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22To see someone like this now...
0:15:39 > 0:15:42With Nigel recovering in hospital,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44the group is one man down.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Coming all this way, 8,000 miles, and straight into hospital!
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Unbelievable.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- What was we saying last time? - Sheep!- Sheep!
0:15:58 > 0:15:59Baa!
0:15:59 > 0:16:05Today, we're marching to Fitzroy, where the Welsh Guards got hit
0:16:05 > 0:16:08on the Sir Galahad, so it's a very significant day for Mick.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Very significant day for a lot of us, really.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12- I appreciate it. - No, I enjoyed having you.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Right, charge.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Oh, it's been a pleasure. You take care.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21PLAYING REVEILLE
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- Bye-bye.- Bye!- Take care!
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Is that our lunch up there on the hill?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39THEY IMITATE SHEEP
0:16:39 > 0:16:42The group reach Fitzroy Bay six hours later.
0:16:43 > 0:16:4648 soldiers and crew were killed here when the ship
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Sir Galahad was bombed by the Argentinian Air Force.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53This is where the Welsh Guard suffered their heaviest losses.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59This is it.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01This is where we came ashore.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Mick was one of hundreds of Welsh Guards
0:17:03 > 0:17:05being transported on the ship.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Planes came in and hit us, half past four in the afternoon.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17ARTILLERY FIRE, MISSILE WHISTLES
0:17:17 > 0:17:18Bang.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23And then whoosh.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Thrown through the air. I got thrown about 15 foot.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34You're trying to get guys out and you're choking.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Some of the guys, they went back, they wanted to pull...
0:17:38 > 0:17:40You know, I'm talking heroes there, what they done.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44If you ever see somebody, they've got on a pair of Marigold gloves,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46they peel them off...
0:17:46 > 0:17:49and just left them hanging by their fingers -
0:17:49 > 0:17:52the flash has blown the skin off his hands.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And he had roses tattooed on his hands.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59You could see the tattoos down there on his skin where they'd come off.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04The smell was horrendous.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Explosions and burning flesh, right?
0:18:06 > 0:18:07It was...
0:18:07 > 0:18:11It really got into you, like...
0:18:11 > 0:18:13It's in and on you.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Many men were trapped below deck in the burning hold.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Guys going back in there. I had a look, didn't have the guts for it.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Well, I had really...
0:18:24 > 0:18:26I just, I couldn't go back in there.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32- HE SIGHS - Dear me.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35HE SOBS
0:18:42 > 0:18:45When Mick returned home, his survivor guilt
0:18:45 > 0:18:48was only intensified by the warmth of his hero's welcome.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55All the neighbours in the street are out, the bloody big hero's...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57hero's welcome.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00As they got up to the door, it's a big picture,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04the Welsh Guards rugby team, and the first who I clock,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07is Cliff and Yorkie.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10They got killed on the Guard, you know, and I just broke down.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15The ones who were killed, it broke my heart.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Seeing my mates and I'm getting a bloody hero's welcome
0:19:17 > 0:19:19and my two mates ain't there,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22just...still shocking.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- All right, boys?- What's wrong, Mike? - Come here, come here.
0:19:30 > 0:19:31Get in there, Mike.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34It's all gone by the way now, boy. All gone by the way.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42The men leave Fitzroy with heavy hearts.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It's unlikely they will ever return.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I think the hardest thing was especially with Mike Hermanis
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and a view of the other boys, Fitzroy, the actual Fitzroy itself,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00is such a big thing and it's such...
0:20:00 > 0:20:02When they got there yesterday, very emotional.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06He finds now it's hard to leave there and start walking
0:20:06 > 0:20:09all over again, and that was the biggest thing this morning,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12was trying to get re-motivated to carry on walking.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22The approach to the capital, Port Stanley,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25takes them past the battleground Mount Harriet.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Paul Bromwell was part of a recce unit leading the way up
0:20:29 > 0:20:33the mountains and paving the way for the Paras and Marines.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Paul had walked some 70 miles in sub-zero temperatures by this point.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42It was one of the hardest tracks I've ever done.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45You've got to imagine yourself doing a marathon.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47I'd done a couple of marathons by the time I got here.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51It was -3, ice rain,
0:20:51 > 0:20:57and we were put in positions right round the bottom of Mount Harriet.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00The Argentines were well dug in and convinced that the British
0:21:00 > 0:21:03would never attempt something as foolhardy as storming
0:21:03 > 0:21:06the mountain at night in these conditions.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10That underestimation proved their downfall.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Where we could see a lot of movement and a lot of fire coming in,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14it was coming in both ways.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18We all opened up and whatever we could see,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21we put enough firepower down
0:21:21 > 0:21:23to let the Marines go forward.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32We were just waiting for something to go wrong, you know?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Despite what Paul and his comrades suffered that night,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39a plaque on the site fails to even mention them.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42We fought on this mountain and yet it never comes out.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's always the other regiments have taken it,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47that they've done everything.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50There's no mention on here whatsoever
0:21:50 > 0:21:54about what the Welsh Guard's done on this mountain itself.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58I don't want this thought to leave my life all the time,
0:21:58 > 0:22:00but it never goes away.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07It was so surreal to be involved in this and then within a week,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I'm walking down the street at home and...
0:22:13 > 0:22:15..it was like two worlds apart.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19I'd been through hell and when I went home,
0:22:19 > 0:22:20it just seemed nothing had changed.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Everybody else was carrying on with their life and yet inside,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26it was hurting a lot.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29So much. I'd lost too many good friends.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41It's the last push to Port Stanley and for Will,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44the incident that has most haunted him occurred after
0:22:44 > 0:22:47the Argentine surrender on this road.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52I remember walking up and seeing something in the road and it
0:22:52 > 0:22:53was the body of a dead Argentinian.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57And for reasons I still don't understand today,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01I put my hand down
0:23:01 > 0:23:04and I wanted to look at the guy's face.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07And I'd picked his head up
0:23:07 > 0:23:09and I looked at no face.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12There was no face there at all.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It was just a cross-section of his skull.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17All of his teeth were all over the place,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20there was bone fragments and blood all over the place,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and it's something that has haunted me
0:23:23 > 0:23:25for a very long time, seeing that,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and that's what I remember about coming into Port Stanley.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Some of the lads were looking through his possessions
0:23:31 > 0:23:36and they found photographs of his family and it just...
0:23:37 > 0:23:40It made me think immediately that this guy could have been me,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42could have been any of us.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43He was just a soldier,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46fighting for a war that he probably didn't believe in
0:23:46 > 0:23:50in a foreign country and a place that he'd never heard of,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55and probably as scared as me, and unfortunately he'd been killed.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Covering an average of 22 miles a day,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03then men have done their march in four days.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Not bad for ten old geriatrics!
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Exactly, we've done pretty good.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11I started blubbing, coming up the hill just then.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Yeah, I'm proud of us all, mate, I'm proud of us all.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19- I tell you what, mate... - Set a few demons to rest now.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Yeah. Suck on that.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- Hip-hip...- ALL:- Hooray!
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- Hip-hip...- Hooray! - Hip-hip...- Hooray!
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Come on, boys, all together, all together.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37One, two, three. Bam, done it!
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Well done, boys. Let's get some photos.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41Get some photos.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43This is it.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Cheers, mate. I've been carrying this.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48My Falklands War's over about 35 years,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50this is it, the monkey's off my back.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Get in there!
0:24:53 > 0:24:56That's it, baggage ended.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05The Argentines lost 649 men,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09almost three times that of the British.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10When the conflict was over,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Will and some comrades were detailed to return
0:25:12 > 0:25:17500 Argentinian prisoners using a modified old Sealink
0:25:17 > 0:25:21cross-channel ferry which had sailed all the way from the UK.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23During this time,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26they discovered a poignant connection with the prisoners.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30We were sectioned to deal with the prisoners on the car deck.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35We had about 500 of these engineers who'd helped clear the mines.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41And we were taking them back to Puerto Madryn in Argentina
0:25:41 > 0:25:43on this cross-channel ferry.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48And my mate strikes up a conversation with one of these guys.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53They can barely speak each other's languages but it transpires
0:25:53 > 0:25:56that some of the prisoners we had were Welsh
0:25:56 > 0:25:59because when the Welsh were oppressed,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03they left Wales to go and settle in Patagonia,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and yet we're fighting with each other.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09It's St David's Day,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13exactly 102 years since the formation of the Welsh Guards.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18A fitting time to pay their respects to fallen comrades.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24SOBBING
0:26:31 > 0:26:34It's closure, it's closure, you know?
0:26:34 > 0:26:39I can go home now and not think about this place no more,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and I can move on in my life now.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I think it's about the futility of war.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54I think you realise what a futile thing it is.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58I mean, obviously we achieved an objective by going there
0:26:58 > 0:27:01and taking the islands back and that needed to be done...
0:27:03 > 0:27:05..but at what cost?
0:27:05 > 0:27:07At what cost, you know?
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Shall we go home? Let's go home. Come on.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16There's not a single day goes by when you don't think about it,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18think about the boys,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21the friends that we lost in this.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25There were some bloody fantastic boys we lost up there.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29People forget, when they're walking down the street
0:27:29 > 0:27:31and doing their shopping every day,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33is that the freedom for them to do that,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35somebody paid for it somewhere.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40And I know that a lot of my mates, they paid for it with their lives.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Look, freedom isn't free. Somebody's paying for it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47# Through these fields of destruction
0:27:50 > 0:27:52# Baptisms of fire
0:27:56 > 0:28:00# I've witnessed your suffering
0:28:02 > 0:28:05# As the battle raged higher
0:28:08 > 0:28:12# And though they did hurt me so bad
0:28:14 > 0:28:17# In the fear and alarm
0:28:21 > 0:28:23# You did not desert me
0:28:23 > 0:28:26# My brothers in arms... #