The Tragedy of the Falklands War

An article (two versions of which are reproduced here below) recently printed exemplifies one of the tragic aspects of the Falklands War: the Anglo-Argentines who, out of loyalty to their homeland, were forced into waging war against their mother country. The subject of the article, Mr. Alan Craig, happens to be a former student of St. Alban’s College, a fine institution in the Provincia de Buenos Aires (currently celebrating its centenary) which I had the great privilege of briefly attending. (C.f. How Andrew Cusack Became a Tea Drinker). Another sad aspect of the Falklands War is that if there are any two nations which should enjoy the bonds of friendship, it is Britain and Argentina. It is a shame when two countries which should be natural companions, perhaps allies, have deep-seated and long-lasting emotions in the way. (One thinks of Germany and Poland in particular).

Interestingly, Argentine textbooks contain maps of the Falkland Islands in which all the towns and geographical features have contrived names en Castellano. Port Stanley, for example, is called Puerto Argentino, while the Falklands themselves are known to Argentines as las Malvinas.

I remember one day in geography class at St. Alban’s, exhibiting the typical brash arrogance of a youthful Anglo-Saxon, raising my hand, being called on by the teacher, and pronouncing “Sir, I have studied geography all my life, and I spend a lot of time reading maps. I don’t believe there exists such a place called ‘the Malvinas’ though the Falklands…”. I was going to continue that the Falklands “are roughly the shame shape and size and in the same place as this map depicts” (or something to that effect) but I had been interrupted by such a hail of paper, pens, and whatever moveable objects my fellow students could get their hands on (I think Nico, that Russian bastard, had actually thrown a book) that I found it more prudent to take cover underneath my desk rather than continue upon the particular oratorical course upon which I had embarked.

Nonetheless, we pray eternal rest to all the soldiers who fell on those windy isles a quarter-century ago, and that those who survived will live in the peace which their sacrifice has earned for them.

Argentine Scot forced to fight against land of his ancestors

by NICK EVANS and BRIAN BRADY (Scotland on Sunday)

HE IS from a proud Scottish family with impeccable military traditions.

His grandfather fought with the Grenadier Guards in the First World War, and was decorated for bravery. His father Neale served as an RAF pilot, fighting the Nazi menace in the Second World War.

So it seemed perfectly natural for Alan Craig to follow in their footsteps and go to fight in the Falkland Islands in April 1982 – only for him they were called the Malvinas and he was part of the invading Argentine Army.

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the invasion of the Falklands, the proud Argentine Scot who ended up fighting against the land of his ancestors has spoken for the first time of the misery of war from the point of view of the thousands of young conscripts forced to fight for their military “Junta”. “It was a scary time,” recalled Craig. “And because I’ve always felt British, the thought of fighting them was very difficult for me. But I had no choice.”

Craig, 44, still lives in Buenos Aires, but remains distinct from the vast majority of his fellow countrymen. It is not just because of his ambivalent attitude to a war whose memory is once again reopening divisions among the Argentine population. Like many Argentines, his grandparents were immigrants; but unlike most, they weren’t from Italy or Spain, but from Scotland.

Craig’s grandparents emigrated from Arbroath in December 1923, setting sail for Buenos Aires, where David Craig had a job as general manager of a textile factory. A decorated veteran of the First World War, David wanted to leave war-torn Europe behind, and carve out a new future for his family.

His wife Kathleen was heavily pregnant when they left and she gave birth to a son off the coast of Uruguay in January 1924. When he reached the age of nine, it felt perfectly natural for David and Kathleen to send their son ‘home’ to Scottish public school, Fettes.

Alan himself went to a British school, St Alban’s College, in Buenos Aires, and when school finished in December 1980, he decided to spend that summer on a rugby tour to the UK. He particularly remembers his father’s old school as “an amazing place, like something out of Harry Potter”.

“I loved being in Britain, though it was bloody cold of course,” Craig said.

The chill winds of a Scottish winter were as nothing compared to what was awaiting him on his return to Argentina: 13 months of obligatory military service.

“I didn’t want to go,” Craig confessed. “But my father told me I had to do my duty.”

By the end of the week, Craig was dug into a foxhole with his old comrade from military service, Adrian Gomez-Csher, and the rest of the 7th Infantry Regiment of La Plata.

“Our officers were sons of bitches, many of them had been fighting in the ‘Dirty War’, killing civilians,” Craig said. “That was the sort of person who was in command of us.”

When the British task force arrived, with the South Atlantic winter, Craig’s regiment suffered more casualties than any other Argentine unit in the Falklands. They would also be involved in the most vicious battle of the war, as the soldiers from 3 Para attacked Mount Longdon.

“I think we were so shaken and scared,” he said. “Comfortably numb. It was a couple of days later when we had surrendered that it hit me.”

Craig was sent home aboard the requisitioned cruise ship HMS Canberra, along with more than 1,000 other Argentine PoWs.

Returning was the start of another ordeal, which Craig has been troubled by in the quarter century since. “I went back to my family and my father helped a hell of a lot,” he said. “He knew what I’d been through.”

But like many veterans, for Alan, the impact of the war was just lying dormant. In January 2006, he found himself jobless, and increasingly depressed. After six months talking to a psychiatrist about the war, he has finally decided to try to rest the ghosts of the past by returning this summer to the Falklands. “In 1982 I went against my history, it was very hard,” he said. “When I go back to the Falklands, I finish closing up my story.”

Briton tells of fight for Argentinian side

by NICK EVANS (the Daily Telegraph)

Alan Craig vividly remembers the morning of April 2, 1982.

He had just started at university and was drinking a coffee in a café when there was a newsflash: Argentina had invaded the Falklands. “Straight away, I knew I’d be called up,” he recalled.

A few days later the order came. But the café where Mr Craig was sitting was in Buenos Aires and the barracks to which he reported belonged to the Argentine military.

The Falklands veteran has strong memories of his call-up to fight against a military force from “home”.

“I didn’t want to go,” he said. “But my father told me to do my duty. He said: ‘We’ve never had a deserter in this family, and it’s not going to happen now’.

“My mother felt rather differently, she felt as any mother must feel when her son goes to war. They fought like hell. I found out later it almost destroyed their marriage.”

Mr Craig, 44, is one of an estimated 100,000 Argentines of British origin still living in Argentina. Apart from his Scottish name, he speaks word-perfect English, as well as Spanish, he loves “rugger” and shepherd’s pie and his father and grandfather won decorations for service with the British armed forces in both world wars.

A coffee table in his flat in the Argentine capital is fashioned from an old drumskin from the Grenadier Guards, the regiment Mr Craig’s grandfather served with during the First World War.

Perhaps most significant is his liberal use of Argentina’s forbidden F-word: Falklands. In Argentina it is not used. They are instead nuestras Malvinas – our Malvinas.

Argentines regard it almost as a badge of honour to disagree on most things, but one thing is sure to unite them: a belief in their rightful claim to the Malvinas, seized by British pirates in 1833.

But Mr Craig, who lives with his wife Veronica, son Brian, 18, and daughter Samantha, 16, in a flat on the south side of Buenos Aires, was always going to be a bit different.

His grandparents emigrated from Arbroath, Scotland, in 1923. A decorated veteran of the First World War, his grandfather David wanted to leave post-war Europe.

After finishing school in 1980, Alan went on a rugby tour of Britain.

On his return in 1981 he was called up for military service. It was here that Mr Craig met Adrian Gomez-Csher, the man who would become his best friend.

“We remained firm friends throughout military service. We helped each other through it.”

Little did they know that one month after their military service ended, they would be conscripted to fight in the Malvinas, where, sharing the same foxhole, they would help each other through the most terrifying experience of their lives.

As the south Atlantic winter approached along with the task force, Mr Craig was to discover how his grandfather must have felt in his First World War trench.

“We were cold, wet and hungry. Our clothes were completely inadequate for the conditions, we didn’t even have an anorak at first. I had three pairs of socks which I wore all at once. Cold and miserable, and waiting: waiting for the British to come. In the first few days, I used to get into terrible fights because I said the British would come. I was sure of it.

“I knew the British, and they wouldn’t let this happen without a fight.” He was right. The British came nine weeks later.

Mr Craig’s 7th Infantry Regiment, dug in on Mount Longdon, suffered more casualties than any other in the Argentine Army: 36 men were killed, most in a vain defence of Longdon and then Wireless Ridge against crack troops of the Parachute Regiment. Mr Craig doesn’t talk of bravery, or glory: just confusion and fear.

“The British started shelling at night. You could see the tracers lighting up the sky. The Argentine artillery were bombing the British but they were falling short and hitting us. We fought overnight and then at daylight there was a pause in the fighting. We looked around us, and most of the officers had gone.

“Then the fighting began again. It was fight or run, sometimes we couldn’t run so the only option was to fight. We would fight, then retreat. Fight again, retreat, working our back to Stanley, until we ran out of ammo.”

A few hours later, before the British troops arrived at Stanley, the Argentine commander-in-chief, Brig Mario Menendez, agreed to surrender, ignoring Gen Galtieri’s orders to fight to the death.

For many Argentine soldiers, their return to civilian society was more traumatic than the war. More Malvinas veterans, some 370, have committed suicide since June 1982 than died in the whole of the land campaign.

Mr Craig had always considered himself one of the lucky ones. “I went back to my family and thank God my father helped a hell of a lot.

“He knew what I’d been through. He went to war when he was 18 or 19 like me, but he was at war for years: how could I complain about a few weeks in the islands? I thought I could cope with everything and then last year a bomb went off in my life.”

Like many war veterans, for Mr Craig, the impact of the experience was just lying dormant. Early last year he found himself jobless, and increasingly depressed. Then he had a breakdown. He spent six months talking to a psychiatrist about the war, telling her things he’d never even shared with his wife.

“I realised I had just been keeping it all bottled up. I thought I was being strong, not needing to talk about it, but I was fooling myself.”

With that in mind, Mr Craig is returning to the Falklands for the first time in June.

“I remember my Dad took me back to the UK in 1977 or ’78. We went to every aerodrome where he flew from: you could see he was closing a story many years after.

“In 1982 I went against my history, it was very hard. When I go back I finish closing up my story.”

Category: Argentina

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