Memorial to Falklands dead opens

A MEMORIAL to the 255 British soldiers, sailors and airmen killed during the Falklands War was unveiled yesterday in the presence of relatives of some of those who lost their lives.

The service at the National Memorial Arboretum, in Staffordshire, attended by hundreds of current and ex-services staff, ended with a fly-past by a Vulcan bomber and three helicopters.

The Vulcan, flown by the flight lieutenant who led the raid on Port Stanley’s runway, twice passed over the memorial to commemorate those who fell during the South Atlantic war.

The memorial is a 7ft-high curved wall of Cotswold stone, designed to reflect the landscape of the Falklands, and echoes a commemorative wall at the islands’ San Carlos Cemetery.