John Parsler joined the Royal Navy at 15 and served on various ships until he was 18 when he joined the Naval Police, training in close protection and obtaining the Commando Green Beret. John was sent to Hong Kong soon afterwards but within a few months after the start of the Korean War, 41 (Independent) Commando was formed and he was drafted in and flown to a US base in Japan. From their base, John was in a troop of about 50 men assigned to a submarine that took part in raids on the Korean coastline to disrupt the enemy’s transportation supply lines. In November 1950 41 Commando joined a Untied Nations advance into North Korea working with the US Marine Corps and took part in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir under the British Command of Lt Colonel Drysdale. John was in a convoy of trucks as part of an operation to help relieve thousands of US troops encircled by the Chinese and as a result about half of 41 Commando were either killed or captured. 41 Commando continued operations until 1952 when it was disbanded and John returned to Hong Kong.

Having joined the Navy first as an engineer, then as a Seaman Officer, Malcolm had reached the position of Lieutenant Commander Staff Officer and was incredibly busy on the HMS Antrim taking part in Exercise Spring Train by Gibraltar when they starting to hear rumblings about what was happening in the South Atlantic. It then came as no surprise when they were mobilised to head south. Malcolm recalls that there was initially a degree of making things up as they went along as they didn’t know what to expect and nobody, except one Royal Marines Officer, had ever been to the Falklands. One of Malcolm’s jobs was to work on deception tactics such as laying chaff around this ships to appear a larger flotilla and charting a course which looked like they might actually be heading for Argentina. At Ascension, Malcolm transfers to HMS Hermes where he recalls a frenzied race for better sleeping conditions when the Admiral said the officers could share his cabin which included the luxury of a double bed and shower. During this time, Malcolm had two main responsibilities. When on watch he was the Anti-Submarine Warfare Screen Coordinator and when not on watch he managed communications, including highly classified messages. He vividly recalls hearing the tragedy of the Sheffield directly through his headphones but that they only had a brief time to reflect before pushing on with their jobs. Malcolm describes some of their biggest challenges being rudimentary communication, lack of advance warning about airborne attacks and confusion which could arise from the three services not really having collaborated since WWII. He also remembers the tragedies of helicopter crashes and a Harrier exploding, he thinks it was often luck that meant things weren’t worse. Malcolm says it was difficult readjusting to life at home and is grateful to the public who offered members of the task group free holidays. It was a week in Wales with his family, away from home and work, that finally helped him decompress. He reflects that the Falklands will probably have been the last time the Royal Navy will fight a fleet action in that way.

Tim Macmahon, was Flight Commander and pilot of a Lynx helicopter aboard HMS Antelope during the Falklands War. He recalls his sudden deployment to the South Atlantic in April 1982 where initially he performed routine duties including transporting the Argentinian POW Alfredo Astiz and British Antarctic Survey members.  The mood shifted after the sinking of the Belgrano and HMS Sheffield, leading to a mission on May 23rd, where Tim and his crew fired Skua missiles at an enemy supply ship. While away, HMS Antelope was severely damaged by bombs. Tim evacuated casualties and assisted bomb disposal efforts by hovering with floodlights above the ship. He returned to the UK onboard the QE2. Reflecting on the war, Tim shares experiences of refuelling without modern technology and the emotional weight of attacking an Argentine carrier once crewed by his father.