Lottery funds Falklands pilgrimage

The Big Lottery money to ex-services mental welfare society Combat Stress will help the ex-servicemen to revisit the scene of the conflict this November.

The visit forms part of the 25th Falklands anniversary commemorations.

Among the group will be almost 100 veterans who are said by organisers to still be suffering psychologically.

Toby Elliott, chief executive of Combat Stress said: "For all those who go on this trip it will be an intensely moving experience; a special opportunity to recall the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people, and for many, to lay to rest the harrowing memories of traumatic events which they experienced.

"This grant from the Big Lottery Fund will allow Falklands War Veterans to revisit the islands in November, many for the first time since 1982.

"There were numerous sailors, among them the HMS Sheffield survivors, who never even saw the islands."

Speaking about one veteran who could benefit from the award, organisers told of a Welsh Guardsman who supervised the transfer of ammunition from ship to shore near Bluff Cove on the ship Sir Galahad when enemy aircraft attacked it. They said the veteran helped ferry the injured and dead bodies to shore.

Mr Elliott said: "The war affected this guardsman deeply...He has struggled with life ever since."

Sir Clive Booth, chairman of the Big Lottery Fund, added: "By taking veterans and families of those who didn't come back on a commemorative pilgrimage to the Falklands Islands, the project will help them to come to terms with the mental scars left by the traumatic experiences of war and gain a sense of closure on the events of 1982."