A MOVING ceremony was held in Bere Alston Memorial Garden on Tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War.

Among those gathered for the short ceremony organised by the Royal British Legion in Bere Alston were two veterans who served in the Royal Navy during the conflict with Argentinia over the islands in the South Atlantic.

Martin Turley, of Bere Ferrers, and Kevin Doidge, from Bere Alston, both now in their 60s, remembered the comrades who never came back.

They were both proudly wearing their Falklands South Atlantic Medal from the war in which 255 British servicepeople died as well as three Falkland islanders.

Martin said: ‘Although we had a lot of training beforehand, it is not something you can train mentally for, going to war.’

Martin, who served in the Royal Navy for more than 20 years, sailed from Gibraltar for the Falklands Islands the day the British Government declared war on Argentina for invading the Falklands, a British dependency in the South Atlantic.

‘We sailed out on HMS Arrow from Gibraltar in early April 1982 and carried out a number of engagements on Argentinians in [Port] Stanley.

‘Our troops also spent a good amount of time in ‘bomb alley’, San Carlos, which is the part you always see on TV footage. We saw HMS Antelope explode and we boarded HMS Sheffield after she was hit by an exocet missile. We took off all the crew who were still alive. Eighteen of us stayed on board to put out fires, but we couldn’t save her.’

Kevin Doidge, who lives in Bere Alston, came to the ceremony on his mobility scooter.

He served in the Falklands on board the frigate HMS Broadsword, which was hit by enemy fire and went to the aid of HMS Coventry, rescuing crew from that ship before it sank.

After he returned from the Fallklands he went on to serve in the Royal Navy for more than 20 years, going on to serve as a submariner.

‘We had to do a rescue job on the Coventry and that was nasty,’ he said.

‘That was a harrowing day. When you are in the thick of it and you haven’t slept for three days you are walking around like a zombie. After I came back, life was definitely for living, you know what I mean?’

This morning, it was Tavistock’s turn to remember, when the Tavistock branch of the Royal British Legion held a ceremony at the war memorial in Bedford Square.