Original subtitles

After three weeks of living in the field,

yomping for over 60 kilometres

carrying more than 80 pounds of equipment,

and eating arctic ration packs which gave us the shits,

we were exhausted.

But we still had battles to fight.

On the night of the 11th and 12th of June,

my section was on the slopes of Mount Harriet,

and we had to run through a minefield

which was covered by Argentine artillery fire.

When we got there, we went bunker to bunker,

firing at anything that moved.

Richie is with me because he’s the youngest.

I saw a shelter in front of me, and I opened fire.

I don’t know if Richie threw a grenade or not,

but there is a loud explosion.

And when I looked up,

there are Argentines standing with their hands in the air.

And I remember looking down at the shelter

and thinking

“Have I just killed somebody who tried to surrender?”

I remember the snow falling,

and the quiet.

But I had to check that my section was OK.

- Richie OK? - OK!

- Bernie OK? - OK!

- Andy OK? - OK!

- Johnnie OK? - OK!

The section was OK,

but now I had prisoners to think about.

Get down.

Get down! Get the fuck down!

You killed my friends, motherfucker!

Get the fuck down!

Lou, come here!

One of my guys called me over to some wounded Argentinians.

And when I got there,

I realised one of them was speaking in English.

He had a belly wound.

And I remember, as I was trying to console him,

he began telling me about a trip to England.

And something about Oxford.

And then he died.

Name?

Marcelo Ramón Vallejo.

- Age? - 53.

Rank?

Soldier.

Combat role?

Heavy mortar man.

Current profession?

Painting. I work as a painter and gardener.

And sport. I do a lot of sport.

Name?

Jim Bush.

- Age? - 54.

- Rank? - Private.

Current profession?

Police officer.

Rank?

Soldier.

Combat role?

Mail courier for the Third Section, Command Squad.

Current profession?

Actor.

I wrote this poem about post traumatic stress disorder.

I can’t go to bed

because the things in my head

make it hard to fall asleep.

It’s like it happened today,

and it won’t go away.

Don’t ask me to try counting sheep.

Don’t fill your eyes with tears my dear when I am leaving.

Don’t cry, don’t cry me dear, when I am leaving.

- Name? - José Luis Aparicio.

- Age? - 53.

Rank?

Conscript soldier.

- Age? - 63.

Rank?

Sergeant.

Current profession?

Joiner.

Combat role?

Military dog handler.

Current profession?

Landscaper.

If you were the protagonist of a film about the Falklands war,

What role would you like to have?

I’d like to be the star.

I’d like to be the protagonist.

When I tell my role in the war I’m always the protagonist

I feel protagonist.

Look at me, on the streets,

not knowing what to do

or find my feet.

Look at me, behind the wall

not knowing what to do

or fight or fall.

I wrote a book

about the campaign in the Falkland Islands

from the point of view of my brigade,

the Third Commando Brigade,

which became a bestseller, called No Picnic.

This is my war trophy.

It’s the standard on which

the English pledge loyalty to the Queen.

THE MALVINAS ARE ARGENTINE

I’ve included that because

I saw that picture of the clouds,

and to me it looks like the Falkland Islands.

This is a blanket, the kind we used.

A jumper that I found at our position.

We had... many soldiers had two pairs of boots.

And some of them are still on the battlefield.

Me and Budhi, hiding,

and three Argentinians coming to us.

When they got to within 50 meters,

Budhi asked me, “Can I shoot?”

Then I told him, “Don’t shoot!

“I’m going to capture them with the kukri.”

Then “ha!” I jumped with the kukri.

The gringo swore at us:

“Pussies, faggots, fire, you fuckers!

Fire you motherfuckers!”

And... the gringo went out from behind the rocks.

I suddenly had space.

So I kneeled, I was trembling, and I fired a little.

The rifle jammed. I took out the clip,

unjammed it, fired again.

I wasn’t even looking.

I had my eyes closed. I was shaking.

First, the corporal called us,

“Soldiers into the pit!”

We all go into the pit.

I grab the targeting device

and prepare to aim with Jorge Sosa, my comrade.

We set up the targeting device,

and while we did that, they set up the mortar ammo.

Once the targeting device was set,

Jorge Sosa puts a shell into the mortar,

we lie on the dirt on each side of the mortar,

and we fire.

BOOM! Take that, you bastards!

Long live Argentina!

Oh my God!

And it was... I just remember the snow falling.

And just, really, how quiet it was.

It was just surreal.

And then I was called over to some wounded Argentinians.

And when I got there,

there was a guy speaking in English.

And he had a belly wound.

And we administered, well, tried to administer first aid,

but there’s not a lot you can do, to be honest with you.

He was talking to me about visiting England.

And then...

and he died...

...while I was holding him.

And then we buried the dead.

I was given an order to go out and bury the dead.

We couldn’t afford to take prisoners on the battlefield

because we were moving forward

and we only had enough men to fight the battle.

So we had no choice but to kill them.

And because we were so hungry, during the battle

we started with nothing in our stomachs,

so what we actually did, we went into the trenches

and all the Argentinian soldiers had were tins of corned beef.

So we jumped into the trenches, sat on the Argentinians,

and ate the corned beef.

And to this day I’ve never touched a tin of corned beef

because it reminds me of killing people.

I followed him up.

And if you...

We were on the left side of the ship,

I can remember this as clear as day.

So what happened then is,

he was leaning, leaning on, looking out.

And he was very quiet.

And he said,

"Doc's dead."

If you could just play this through:

He said, “Doc’s dead,”

I will try to capture that you know, my sort of response.

OK, so do you want to do that?

- Yeah, sorry! - That’s all right!

Not that I want to tell you what to do, but...

Doc’s dead.

That is pretty much what it was like for me.

We got to the bow,

I was pushing against the hull,

and I saw the metal sheeting all buckling off,

from where the second torpedo had blasted the whole bow.

So I said, “We’re in danger. The raft’s broken, let's jump out”

So I go through one life raft and jump onto another.

I go through that second life raft and jump onto a third.

When I jump onto the third life raft,

an NCO jumps with me,

and the lance corporal falls into the water.

When he falls, I try to pull him out,

but he was slipping away from me.

I ask others for help.

We grab him, I reach around him under the water,

grab his waist, and two of us pull him out.

I ask him, “Are you OK?”

He says, “Yes” and we sat there a bit.

Then we sat in the raft

and waited to be rescued.

We were freezing.

Stay there.

That’s Mount Williams.

This was our combat position.

That other high point is Mount Tumbledown.

We pitched our tents up there.

The wind carried them off.

We put some shelters together with sheets of metal, bits of wood,

whatever we could find.

There’s my trench!

That one there.

- Hello. - Hello.

- My name is Lou. - My name is David.

My name is Gabriel.

Ex 7th Gurkha Rifles.

I was with the Royal Marines in the Falklands war.

My name is Marcelo Vallejo, I'm a Malvinas War veteran.

I was in the 6th Regiment.

My name is Rubén.

I’m a survivor of the sinking of the Cruiser General Belgrano.

My name is Marcelo.

Good English.

My name’s Lou. My name’s Lou.

I'm a soldier. I’m a veteran of the Malvinas war.

Ah. Malvinas.

I’m a veteran of the Falklands war.

I’ve come here to Argentina to meet soldiers.

Where were you? Mount...?

Where was I? Mount Harriet.

Harriet? OK.

Port Stanley, Goose Green, Mount Harriet. And you?

Mount William.

Ah, Mount William. OK.

- Harriet... William. - Very close.

You were a mortar man?

Yes, a mortar man.

Infantry. Commando.

Ah, infantry.

One, two, three, four!

Could we... A little... A little bit faster?

A little bit faster.

Just hi hat.

Yeah. A little bit faster.

Fast. A little bit faster.

A little bit faster.

That’s what he said.

These magazines... My father.

Your father?

When I was at war, in the Malvinas,

my father had these, he bought these.

And afterwards, he gave them to me.

Ah, OK. So your father collected them for you.

I’ve never looked at them before. Let’s look at them together.

Well, these are photos of the last battle.

The finish.

The finish? The end?

When the Pope came to Argentina.

Are you in the pictures? You?

No.

Ah yes. San Carlos.

I saw this, I was on the mountains.

We watched it.

Here, well the title says, “We’re still winning!”

Yes, you were winning then.

The Belgrano.

The sinking of the Belgrano Cruiser.

That could be Goose Green.

Yes. Goose Green.

Thank you.

I arrived on the 13th of April.

We walked from the airport...

- ...to Mount Williams. - Yes.

About 17 kilometres.

We had heavy mortars.

Well, by that time, I’m here.

So, four Gurkha is wounded,

We carried them. We take them.

We fired on Mount William.

Boom! Boom! On you.

Oh!

Air raid warning red.

Hit the ground!

Soldiers, into the pit!

Get down!

Action stations, abandon ship!

Gun group, move!

On me! On me!

Fire!

Prepare to aim!

Gun cover!

Fire at will!

But they were discovered

in the 16th century, weren’t they?

By John Davis?

No, no. Before that,

Ferdinand Magellan discovered them.

Oh really? OK.

Weren’t the French the first to have a colony there in 1764?

Here was the first colony.

But the French recognised Spanish sovereignty.

Oh, I see. So Spain then bought them off the French.

No, they didn’t buy them.

They paid fees to the French, but they were Spanish,

and then we inherited them, and they’re Argentine.

But it was you who told me that Spain bought them off France.

Let’s face it, they were a nowhere land then

until the British settled in 1833.

And since then...

Nine. Nine generations.

Nine generations of islanders...

Nine generations because you occupied them by force in 1833.

But we never stopped claiming them.

Even the UN has recognised

that there is a conflict between both countries.

And you never want to negotiate.

- Negotiations? - Yes.

Ended.

Well, I think you might have ended them on the 2nd April 1982,

when you attacked just here.

The islands are, were,

part of what is left of the British Empire.

It’s a colony.

But they held a referendum.

The people who live there held a referendum.

They said they wanted to remain

an overseas territory of the UK.

So you ended the negotiations with the war.

They held a referendum.

They said they wanted to remain an overseas territory.

What’s next? Another war?

Because the inhabitants are those

that remain from that invasion.

Right from the start, food was scarce.

Those in the 2nd Section said,

“There must be food in that house.”

They entered and took what they found.

A bag of rice, tins, pasta.

They saw a pig and took that, too.

When they were about to leave, they saw a wooden boat.

They decided to use the boat

to carry all the things.

They crossed over to our side in the boat, they got across,

they arrive...

unloaded the things,

and they decided to hide the boat

so they could use it again.

They put the boat on their heads

and began to walk, and suddenly...

They stepped on a mine.

They were blown to bits.

"Negro" Medina was injured and blinded,

and dragged himself to look for help.

I was asleep. An NCO showed up, shouting:

“Soldiers, I need you to bring a blanket!”

No one volunteered because we all thought

we’d lose our blanket.

I had no choice and I followed him.

We reached the place,

and I started to move away from the river bank.

I moved away.

Until I found...

Vargas’ leg.

I knew it was Vargas’ because

he wore football socks with coloured stripes.

We put the remains in the blanket

and took them to an assistance point.

I returned to my position with the blanket.

I kept using it until the end of the war.

It was the only one I had.

We later learned that this field

had been mined by the Argentine Army

at the beginning of the war

but no one told us.

No maps.

♪ Have you ever been to war? ♪

♪ Have you ever killed anybody? ♪

♪ Have you watched men die? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you ever been ignored by a ♪ ♪ government that sent you to war? ♪

♪ Have you watched a friend ♪ ♪ trying to commit suicide? ♪

♪ Have you held a dying man ♪ ♪ in your arms? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you? ♪

♪ Have you ever seen a man on fire? ♪

♪ Have you watched a guy drown ♪ ♪ in an icy sea? ♪

♪ And have you visited ♪ ♪ a dead friend’s grave ♪

♪ with his mother? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you? Have you? ♪

♪ Have you ever been to war? ♪

♪ Have you ever been to war? ♪

This must be the most celebrated homecoming of all!

When we reached the regiment after three days at the Lemos school,

eating and going to the toilet,

because they’d given us Epsom salts as a purgative,

the whole town of Mercedes was there to greet us.

The buses that would transport us arrived.

Behind them, no one could hold back the families.

Each man in his own world,

looking for his loved ones.

But the families of the fallen were also there,

asking desperately after their sons.

When they couldn’t find them,

we didn’t know what to say.

We sent them to another bus,

or we said “they’re coming later.”

We weren’t prepared for that.

And what we were all,

What we were all saying was:

“Did you see Sergio’s mom asking after him?

Echave's mom?”

Like that.

Each of us went with his company,

they began to give us the plastic bags

in which we’d left our civilian clothes.

I had a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of trainers.

We got dressed, went to a parade ground,

where they put us into formation.

I don’t remember anything that was said.

And they sent us home.

I left the barracks with my dad, and we went to the bus stop.

So the scene changed just like that,

with no time to process anything.

But what about after the war? What happened?

When I returned from the war,

I was a rock.

I couldn’t feel a thing.

So I began to meet with veterans

so we could help each other.

At that time, there was no pension,

no medical help or psychological attention.

Back then, a lot of veterans took their own lives.

Many of us, when we returned from the war,

had also lost our jobs.

So they put together a magazine to sell in the trains.

Later I got a job at Ford

on the assembly line.

On Fridays I met with veterans,

I drank a lot and ended up in the slums buying cocaine.

And how long did you take cocaine for?

I don’t remember exactly. Eight years.

When did your treatment start?

The day before the 2nd April, 2000,

I came home really messed up.

My wife and sister took me

to Campo de Mayo military hospital.

I dressed in green, grabbed a box

with stones from Malvinas in it

and an Argentine flag, and I went with them.

I stayed there for three months.

On the wall of the room,

I painted Mount William

because I was afraid that the medication

would erase my memories.

Ruben, how are you boxing?

Do you know?

No, no.

OK.

You have to position yourself like this,

then go like this and take this position.

Then bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

And bam! Bam! Bam!

If they attack you,

you come back like this.

Always, you are with your side to your opponent.

- You have to be straight like that? - Yes.

Not like this. If you’re like this,

you’ll be like this.

So you show your side. You do like this.

Then you push back, push forward,

then it’s easy. Bam! Bam! Bam!

Bam! Bam!

You can fight like this.

But if you’re like that,

you’ll become like that.

So this is the most important position.

Yeah. But no, no, no!

Thanks a lot, Sukrim,

but I don’t box. I don’t know how.

Stand up once, please.

- No, no, no. Thanks anyway. - OK.

- Oh. - Metal hip. And... a plastic knee.

Plastic?

Plastic, yeah.

And there?

- Metal. - Metal, oh.

After the war, I had... foot trench?

Trench foot.

Trench foot. The skin was all black.

Not good.

- No. - Shall we go?

OK.

When did you get the tattoo?

After the war. I think about 30 years ago.

Ah yeah, so. After the war.

I got it so they would recognise me as a veteran.

OK. I understand.

And that one?

Yeah, this is my commando dagger.

It’s the 42 Commando.

Commando dagger here

and a set of parachute wings

because I was a parachutist as well.

- Is it cold? - No.

In 2002, we organised a trip with eight veterans.

We didn’t know exactly where to go, we loaded a van and we just took off.

We stopped in Córdoba and then in La Rioja.

At the time, I was taking

antidepressants and sleeping pills.

We stopped at a dam we put up a tent,

and we started cooking a barbecue.

I mixed pills with alcohol.

And at night, I went to the shore of the dam,

and with that mixture inside,

I just jumped into the water and I didn’t know how to swim.

What the fuck were you playing at, jumping in like that?

You can’t even fucking swim!

You fucking idiot!

Sorry, I’m drunk.

Drunk?! That’s no bloody excuse! You fucking idiot!

You’re a fucking friend!

Don’t you ever fucking do that again!

Ever!

That night, and the next day,

I sat on the shore of the dam, and kept thinking

that I could have drowned.

When I got home, I grabbed a bag

and came to this swimming pool and learned how to swim.

I was 40 years old.

When do they realise?

I’ve never been an actor, therefore,

I don’t know what the fuck an actor does!

It does. It just makes me so mad.

Like, you know, stand there, do this, do that. Well, hello!

I’m a fucking psychologist,

I’m a fucking former Royal Marine.

I mean, you know, I haven’t starred in any movies fucking recently.

It just pisses me off.

Again: dee dee dee dee dee dee!

All the fucking time.

And I’m actually, surprisingly,

trying to do my fucking best.

And I’m not doing it for myself.

Do they not get that?

You know actually, I’m fairly lucky to be chosen.

I fucking realise that.

I’m doing it for guys... fucking other people.

I’m not doing it for my egotistic, fucking...

I know, I know, I know.

Anyway.

The whole project’s fucking...

It’s just an Argentine project, let’s face it.

Yeah, and I’ve tried not to... Well!

I get it. You know. But it’s all...

Argentine suffering, Argentine struggle.

I get it. I get it.

But I’m just starting to feel a little bit...

Well, I didn’t sign up for that.

To be perfectly honest.

I didn’t sign up for that.

Guys, do these English get angry

about every little thing, or what?

They’ve always got something, man.

Always some little thing to gripe about.

Always making a fuss.

They’re a bit spicy.

I don’t know.

They’re just like that, you see? They’re just like that.

Must be their culture.

But right away, you had something,

you got on with Lou. I noticed that.

I thought so, anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

I don’t know. It’s like, I could see

that he, that he was suffering.

I don’t know. Stuff.

Hello dear, how are you?

Yes dear, I am fine.

I’m sending my respect.

I’m sending my love and blessings.

How is everything?

It’s alright. Sometimes it’s difficult because of the language here.

Because of the Argentinian language and English makes it difficult.

I get lost.

I thought about this the other day.

I couldn't understand, so it was hard.

So I thought instead of going through these difficulties,

maybe it’s better to go and stop.

I wrote a letter to Lola.

Emailed her.

Saying perhaps my English isn't adequate for your project.

My English isn't adequate for your project so that’s why

it’s hard for me to understand.

So I should stop.

I asked her to consider my situation.

I wrote that.

That’s it here.

Sometimes it’s difficult.

Sometimes it’s easy.

It’s easy, but I don't know what’s happened.

I haven't been able to perform at the right time, right place.

It should be easy but I find it hard and difficult.

It might be difficult because you’re not used to it.

Hang in there.

[Tribute to the heroes of the Malvinas war]

[Neither renounce nor forget]

[Forbidden to forget... The “Ex-Combatants”]

Do you know who made the posters?

No, no idea.

I think maybe the kids who have classes in the afternoon.

What’s your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is green.

- Green? - Yes.

What is your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is light green.

So my favourite colour is green,

and your favourite colour is light green.

Yes.

OK.

What were you afraid of?

During the war?

Yes.

I was afraid of...

the Argentinian aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes are sometimes called jets.

So I was afraid of the Argentinian jets

and the bombs.

And the bombs. Why?

Because, the Argentinian jets would fly...

from the left, go over us and drop their bombs,

and then fly around to the right.

And the bomb... Bang!

- And the bomb exploded. - Yes.

And then, one hour later,

another jet would fly and drop its bombs.

And then one hour later, again.

I come from Nepal, here.

I was born in Nepal.

Then I worked in many places.

I worked in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei...

and Hong Kong.

Iraq.

Ghana.

United Kingdom.

Argentina and Falklands.

Guatemala, Belize.

Australia.

I was a Royal Marines commando during the Falklands War.

I was a Royal Marines commando during the Falklands War.

And I was on the Falkland Islands on the 2nd of April,

when the Argentines invaded.

I know you call it something different,

but to me, it was an invasion.

I was on the Islands on the 2nd of April.

When the Argentines invaded.

I know you call it something different here,

recovery of the islands,

but to me, it felt like an invasion.

And I fought with the Argentines from the airfield

all the way back through the streets of Stanley

and then into Government House.

The fighting lasted about four hours.

And I fought against the Argentines from the airfield

to Government House,

and all that fighting lasted about 4 hours. 4 hours of fight.

Then we were told to stop fighting.

When an Argentine took me out of the house,

there was a photographer there, and he took a photograph.

Then we were told to stop fighting.

And when we came out from the Government House,

because we had surrendered, I was photographed.

It’s this photograph here.

That’s me in front.

I'm the one in front with my hands up.

Any questions for any of us?

I’d like to know if you saw anyone die or killed anyone?

He wants to know if you saw anyone die or if you killed anyone during the war.

And then we found an Argentine,

an officer.

He’d been injured, he had a belly wound.

I can’t remember who found him.

They called me over. They said,

“Come on over here, Lou,

and have a look at this guy here.”

I went over, and he was sort of...

He started speaking to me in English.

He was telling me, you know,

that he didn’t know why he was...

you know, why were fighting, either.

I feel bad about the bodies...

You know, the state of them, and everything.

The way we sort of just kind of tossed them into a hole.

They were just kids.

The guy that was injured...

You know, I wish now

that he’d never spoken English, you know?

He died.

Could we stop for a minute?

In 1984, I appeared in a documentary called

“Falklands War: The Untold Stories”.

I suppose an actor would be proud

of being able to cry in front of a camera,

but I was a Royal Marine,

and for over 30 years, I’ve felt guilty for grieving

for a dead Argentine instead of one of our own.

I’ve been worried that my lads

would be ashamed of me, and that’s why

I’ve not been to any reunions.

Nowadays, when you meet new friends,

colleagues, lovers, they google you.

And if you google 'Lou Armour', that pops up.

So I find it difficult to avoid

people who want to talk to me about the war.

I could tell you the story again about the dead Argentine,

and it wouldn’t necessarily make me cry.

Sometimes, when I tell it, it can feel a little raw,

but I just control it, and I tell it like a story.

Hey, fish face! Hello!

Does anybody else speak to you?

How about some of the Argentine vets?

Do they speak to you? What do they say?

Bet you’ve never seen a Brit before, have you?

The British are here...

Hello, good morning. How are you?

Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish.

Are you British?

Yeah. I’m a British Falklands veteran.

Nice to meet you! I’m Esteban.

I’m a veteran, too.

Oh, are you? Well, good.

Yes, nice to meet you. What are you doing here?

I’m here to see the doc. First time here.

Yes? Have you ever been

in a place such as this before?

Yeah. In 1986, my CO

thought I was acting a little bit strangely.

I was getting into trouble a little bit.

To help me out, he said,

“You need to go and see the doc.”

So I went to a hospital in Portsmouth.

Just to go and chat with some people and...

There you began to talk about the war.

I did, yeah. But after that,

I didn’t talk about it anymore because then I left.

Yes, of course.

So I just went all quiet again then.

Better than me. I started to talk about the war in 2004.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My problem was, once I...

I went to see the doc in '86,

and then I came out,

I was back in civilian life then,

I didn’t really have anybody to talk to then,

to be honest with you. So...

I felt, I felt that anger

that the war left me with.

It shook me up.

It leads you to have the feeling

of killing someone, you know?

One night in Malvinas, I said to one of the lads,

“Sosa”, I said.

“How crazy it is this! We have to...

get ready to kill a person.”

He pulled me up and shook me,

and said, “Of course we have to kill them.”

So I said,

“Relax. I’m tired too.

I want to kill them, too.”

It’s like... I was prepared for that madness.

Sometimes, thinking about it,

it scares me, too.

Because that’s what I felt there, at that moment when I spoke;

that you’re afraid to die, but you’re also

afraid of killing someone.

There. Strike. Kick. Yes, yes.

Arm. Smash. Yes.

Strike. Strike here.

Smash. Yes. Yes.

Faster.

Yes. Yes.

With two, it’s the same. The same.

There. Yes! Yes.

And there. Yes. yes.

OK, that’s from the front. From behind. Here.

OK. Here. Drop.

Drop down. There, there, here.

So there, up. OK?

The best thing is to drop.

OK? Drop.

Drop. Drop. Yes. Or...

Yes! Yes. OK.

Other.

If somebody comes here...

Or here...

OK, from this foot.

So, you can go like this.

There.

So... ha!

Straight.

Stomp here. See?

Yes. Yes.

OK

This is Marcelo during military service.

- Was he a grenadier? - Yes.

I like this one with the machine gun.

These are the British.

- Really young, aren’t they? - Yeah.

How old are they? 15, 16.

And all their faces look the same.

I was a lot like you.

I liked playing football.

I worked at a blacksmith’s.

I’d done military service

a year before,

and when the Malvinas were recovered I signed up.

All my friends from military service had joined, too,

so I went along.

When I started military service, the first thing they did

was to line us up,

and the soldiers from the previous year cut our hair.

So you’re going to be playing me, yeah?

Yeah. I’ll be playing you.

Yeah.

I’ve got to be honest with you. I’m not sure about that.

Oh, you’re not?

Well, I’ll give it a try. So, what kind of personality

did you have at that time?

Right. OK.

I was a professional, you know?

I was good at my job.

I was quite gung-ho.

So I used to like doing a lot of crazy stuff.

I used to like abseiling out of choppers,

parachuting into the sea.

I’d volunteer for anything at the drop of a hat.

I was fun. I was known as a bit of a party animal.

I could be quite impatient. Very impatient.

And if I wanted things doing,

If I wanted my guys to do things,

I wanted them to do it straight away. So...

A leader, you were.

I was a Section Commander.

Just a young Section Commander at the time.

Great thing.

So, when you... How old were you

when you got into the military service?

Sixteen. Sixteen, I was.

Yeah. I read that in the...

You always wanted to be a soldier?

- Or a military? - No.

Did you do it by obligation?

Because your parents told you?

Or was it your will to be in the military?

There are lots of questions there.

I was a Royal Marine commando,

so I wasn’t a soldier.

It’s what I wanted to do.

Very much like other countries parents don’t tell people what to do.

I knew what I wanted to do, and like most parents...

they supported me in that.

And were very proud of what I did, so... Like most parents.

When I did military service, they put me in the Navy.

After training, they sent me to the Cruiser Belgrano.

The 2nd of April, when we raised

the Argentine flag on the Islands,

we were ordered to sail south.

Early in the morning on the 2nd of May,

we were about to attack the English fleet.

In the afternoon, as we were returning to the mainland,

a submarine torpedoed us and sank us.

I was in the middle of the ocean for 41 hours,

on a life raft.

The Bouchard destroyer rescued us.

I was 19.

Can you sing?

Yes.

I was scared of dentists and the dark.

I was scared of pretty girls

and starting conversations,

so all my friends are turning green.

You’re the magician’s assistant in their dreams.

And they come unstuck.

Lady, running down to the riptide,

taken away to the dark side,

I want to be your left hand man.

I love you when you sing that song and

I’ve got a lump in my throat, 'cause

you’re gonna sing the words wrong.

It very much looked like this on this side,

with that eye darkening,

and that slightly open, hooded lid.

I remember it because it was just

in stark contrast to this side of his face here,

where he had a massive, gaping wound,

an exit wound of some sort.

I don't know where the entry wound was.

It could have come from anywhere.

I just remember that, you know, that hole.

He would have been thrown against the rocks.

You know, in his little fighting position,

onto his back, and his weapon was down with him.

There was blood on the rocks. It had been snowing, as well, so...

You know.

I frequently see this guy.

But I see all of him; not just the wound.

I see his whole body.

It’s just fallen unnaturally.

This eye here, open.

I don’t know what brings the image back.

It could be any time.

I might just be sat having lunch.

Sometimes I dream about it,

but sometimes

I might be sat on a train, or wherever.

Or I might be out running.

And suddenly, just...

It just pops into my head.

Close your eyes.

Come here. Come here!

Motherfucker, you killed my friend!

Get down! Get fucking down! Get fucking down!

Lou! Come here!

Drag him over here.

Fucking mountain.

- Did you find something? - No. Just a picture of his family.

Any ammunition?

He has nothing. We should bury them somewhere.

Did you see their ponchos?

Don’t think they have.

Let’s cover them with dirt.

Leave them alone and keep your hands off!

You shut the fuck up!

Let’s move on. Let’s leave them here.

Let’s go. Move! Move!