H. M. THE QUEEN GRANTS SOUTH ATLANTIC MEDAL TO FALKLAND ISLANDS
By J. Brock (FINN)
Falkland Islanders have been granted the South Atlantic Medal. During his farewell speech following a successful SAMA’82 Pilgrimage, Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly explained that in the confusion after the war, some people were probably not rewarded as they should have been. "It’s a very unsettling business," he said, "Twenty years later, some of that still wrangles."
The medal is for all the Islanders who were part of the resistance in 1982. Surgeon Captain Jolly apologised that the medal took so long in coming.
"We’re hear to heal," he continued. The SAMA’82 Chairman went on to say that it was felt it would have been an imaginative gesture by HMG, that the Islands might have been awarded the South Atlantic Medal, much in the manner of Malta being awarded the George Cross. "It didn’t happen and so is life." He concluded.
The opportunity has arisen to correct that situation and SAMA’82 asked Her Majesty’s permission to go to the Royal Mint and strike in pure silver, the obverse and reverse of the South Atlantic Medal. Surgeon Captain Jolly presented the medal at the farewell.
A one of a kind, the medal is hall-marked by the Royal Mint. Apart from the copy the mint must keep, the presented medal is the only one in existence. This medal accompanies gold medals, which SAMA’82 veterans brought with them and that were taken to all the major battlefield sites, and even went for a ride in a Tornado. The gold medal will become part of the Queen’s collection at Windsor Castle at the end of November.
"Seventy four days isn’t too bad," he quipped, "But we admire your fortitude and courage because there are very few people in this world who have lost their freedom and then regained it."
In the UK, there are people who have never known the strictures of an invasion, being spotted on, being mentally raped in that sense, not free to go where you wanted under the sovereignty you wish to have. "There are still people in Holland who remember that," stated the Naval Surgeon. "It is our honour and delight to give this back to you. It’s summarised. And remember, too, the motto of the South Atlantic Medal says, "From the sea, Freedom."
H. E. the Governor, Mr. Donald Lamont, was given the medal in hopes that it would be put some place where there is access by all Islanders, especially the children, who need to know what their parents went through in 1982.
