Falklands veterans remember

FOR 30 years, childhood pals Eon Matthews and Kevin McDonald have been there for each other through triumph and trauma.

As fellow new boys at school, they quickly struck up a lasting friendship and today both work as security guards at Gatwick.

This week they will be paying tribute to the experience which bonds them stronger than any other - fighting in the Falklands War.

Eon, 42, of Westdown Road, Seaford, will be among the members of the South Atlantic Medal Association (SAMA82) leading the Remembrance Sunday parade at the Cenotaph this weekend.

Meanwhile Kevin, 43, of Denton Road, Newhaven, is one of 300 SAMA82 veterans who set off yesterday on a week-long pilgrimage to the Falklands.

Twenty years after the 72-day war, this will be Kevin's first return to the islands and he admits he needs to find some kind of "closure".

He and Eon spent the war on sister missile destroyers, both as leading seamen in charge of radars and weapons - Kevin on HMS Antrim and Eon on HMS Glamorgan.

Since returning to England, they have shared many distressing memories of the death and destruction they witnessed.

Kevin said: "I've always felt I should go back, to breathe in the air of that bleak but beautiful place and visit the battlefields.

"I live with the war every day. I've suffered my own traumas from it but I want to go out there and offer strength and support to others as well."

The pair were both taking part in a naval exercise off Gibraltar when Argentina invaded the Falklands in April 1982.

Both their wives had booked holidays, expecting them to be home as soon as the Gibraltar exercise ended.

Instead they were diverted to islands the pair had never even heard of - Eon initially assumed the Falklands were somewhere around Scotland.

The HMS Antrim was there from the beginning of military action, helping the SAS and the Royal Marines retake South Georgia on April 25.

Kevin's most crucial time in the firing line came on May 21, 1982.

The Antrim was heading the task force which landed several thousand troops at San Carlos Water, 50 miles west of Port Stanley.

The ship came under relentless bombardment from above, forcing Kevin and colleagues to respond with gunfire of their own.

Kevin said: "It was a hell of a traumatic day. We were having to bob and weave our way through, while maintaining fire the whole time.

"Just as we were first spotted, I needed to nip to the loo and my parting comment was 'Don't start the war without me.'

"But I wish they had - and it had finished before I came out."

He saw a fellow officer blinded by enemy fire and nine others wounded.

Kevin's worst injury came when he was whacked on the head by a 30mm cartridge case while he was manning a cannon.

The HMS Antrim took a formidable battering and had to be withdrawn from service the following day.

However, Kevin revealed the ship suffered from sub-standard equipment from the start.

He said: "We were unbelievably ill-equipped. The missile system was useless.

Our Sea Cat missile system packed up - one guy tried to fire it at an Argentine pilot and nothing happened."

Although Kevin escaped major injury, he was deeply shocked by witnessing the sinking of the HMS Ardent, with the loss of 22 men.

He said: "My worst moment was watching the death blow to that ship. I have never felt so helpless as I did then.

"She had been hit badly all day but to see her take the final pummelling caused a lot of tears and anger among us all."

The landings on the Port San Carlos beachhead enabled the British infantry to advance south and capture the settlements of Darwin and Goose Green.

Kevin was relieved to be withdrawn from the firing-line and sent to South Georgia to await the end of hostilities.

But soon that relief turned to a restlessness to be back in action.

He said: "We all went into shock about what we had seen. Part of me was thinking 'Thank God, I got out alive.'

"But another part of me was thinking about the people still being attacked.

"Being part of the battle was sheer terror but to be left on the sidelines was frustrating."

Eon was doing an almost identical job on board the Antrim's sister warship, in charge of radars and weapons.

He took on an unwanted extra duty after the HMS Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet on June 12 - preparing the body-bags for 13 dead colleagues to be buried at sea.

The attack came as the ship was withdrawing to sea after supporting Royal Marine commando attacks on Mount Harriet, Two Sisters and Mount Longdon.

Eon said: "My first response was to check my body and think 'Thank God, it missed me.' But others were not so lucky.

"Giving them their burials at sea the next day will stay in my mind forever."

Eon was worried his wife Lorraine would fear for his safety when told the ship was hit.

She later told him: "No one informed me you were dead so as far as I was concerned you were okay."

Argentine invasion forces surrendered on June 14 and the British forces were told they could finally return home the following month.

There was one more scary adventure to negotiate: The welcome home.

Kevin said: "I remember all our wives and families waiting for us and starting up this almighty scream when we arrived.

"It was frightening. We all turned and tried to run away!

"Burly bodyguards were being thrown aside by the women. I've never liked screaming since hearing the HMS Coventry go down but this was something else."

Kevin had been in the Navy for six years when war broke out and served another four and a half.

Eon was in the service for 22 years until he left three years ago.

After taking work as a lorry driver, he started at Gatwick last year.

When Kevin was made redundant from telecoms firm Cable and Wireless, Eon suggested he follow him to Gatwick, where they now work together.

Eon said: "We often talk about the war because we can relate to each other.

"Only people who have served in a conflict can know what it is really like.

"Sunday will be a special day. I'm looking forward to going up to London to mark the 20 years since the Falklands."