• Twenty five years ago on the 2nd April 1982 Argentine Forces invaded the Falkland Islands.
• The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwitch Islands.
• It was during the Falklands Conflict, that the predecessor to the current HMS Endurance came into the limelight. HMS Endurance, ex- Anita Dan, was acquired by the Royal Navy in 1967, to maintain a British presence in Antarctica and the Falkland Islands during the summer months and support the work of British Antarctic Survey. In 1982, the Royal Navy intended to decommission the vessel, but the Falklands War intervened. For her part in the war, HMS Endurance was awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for 1982 and won for the ship her first Battle Honour.
• There are many reminders of 1982 on the Falkland Islands today – from cemeteries and minefields to crashed military planes that lie where they fell.
• In 2006, HMS Endurance became the first Royal Navy ship to visit Ushuaia in the Tierra del Fuego region of Argentina since January 1982. Rather movingly, Argentine veterans of the South Atlantic Campaign invited the Ship’s Company to participate in a joint commemoration of those who fell on both sides in 1982.

Petty Officer Jacqueline Quant during the Ushuaia commemoration

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