Prelude to Tragedy at Fitzroy

Dear Fellow Earthlings, On the 5th of June 1982 the people of Port Stanley could hear the guns going off southwest of the town, in the direction of Fitzroy and Bluff Cove. As for Port Stanley itself, a great many of the citizenry -- as well as the occupying troops -- were suffering from diarrhea because the

town's water system was being employed beyond the capacity for which it had been designed

and constructed. But life out in the mountains to the east of Port Stanley was even worse. Not only were the British and Argentine forces shooting at each other, but both were dealing with the cruelly cold winds that were constantly wearing away at man and machine. Meanwhile, the southern thrust that had been added to the move toward Port Stanley by

Major Chris Keeble a few days earlier (See Installment 433.) was now being followed up, albeit

grudgingly, since Keeble's superior Brigadier Tony Wilson had not followed proper chain-of-

command protocol when he allowed Keeble and his men to make their leapfrog move on Fitzroy. That morning HMS Intrepid, an amphibious warfare ship, set off for the Bluff Cove/Fitzroy area

with the Scots Guard aboard. Later in the day it reached Lively Island and the troops were

offloaded onto 4 landing craft that had been transported by Intrepid. From that point the troops

had to endure a 7-hour-long cold, rough transfer aboard the landing craft to Bluff Cove -- but they

did reach their destination (the next morning). The Welsh Guard were to be transported from San Carlos to the same area the next day in the same manner. Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

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