Falkland Islands Farm Converted into Argentine Airbase

Dear Fellow Earthlings, On the 6th of May 1982 all of the Falkland Islanders were continuing to endure occupation. Not only East Falkland (where Port Stanley was located) but also West Falkland were under Argentine control. Out on Pebble Island, located just north of West Falkland, the 25 or so residents of Pebble Island farm there had become prisoners when the Argentines landed on Pebble without firing a shot over a period beginning the 23rd of April and ending the 25th of April. The Argentines had needed an airbase on West Falkland. So they took over the grass airstrip on Pebble Island for purposes of basing FMA IA 58 Pucará and T-34 Mentor light ground attack aircraft as defenses against expected British Royal Navy landings in the Falklands. At the peak of the occupation there were an estimated 150 Argentine military personnel occupying Pebble Island farm -- and over 10 Pucará and Mentor aircraft. Nobbe Clark, whom I became acquainted with during my stay in the Falklands in 2013, and his pregnant wife were among those 25 residents. In a telephone conversation two days ago (April 5, 2017) Nobbe told me how the Argentine soldiers had not physically roughed him or anyone else up during their occupation of Pebble Island, but that they had frequently mentioned that they would kill anyone who dared defy them. The Pebble Island farm had been founded in 1846 by an Englishman by the name of John Markham Dean and had been passed on over the following 136 years by Dean's descendants. The farm was chiefly a sheep farm, although cattle had also been raised there. Now that farm's tranquility and tradition had been turned topsy-turvy. The occupation was particularly rough for the Clarks because at the time Nobbe's wife was four months pregnant. I am happy to report that the fates would prove to be benevolent for the Clarks: Mrs Clark would give birth to a baby daughter -- in a liberated Falkland Islands -- in September of 1982! Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.