Falklands 40: Headlines from The News, Portsmouth on June 12, 1982

Harrier pilot captured

A Harrier pilot shot down in a bombing raid over the Falklands is being held in Argentina as the only British prisoner-of-war, Whitehall sources disclosed today.

The RAF pilot, Flt Lieut Jeffrey Glover, ejected after his jet was hit by ground fire from the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley.

After being picked up by Argentine troops he was flown by light aircraft to a hospital in Comodoro Rivadavia on the Argentine mainland.

He was later moved, but Ministry of Defence officials in London do not know where he is being detained.

‘We are pressing for his release,’ said a Ministry of Defence spokesman today.

The task force has lost eight Harriers in the Falklands fighting, and four pilots have been killed.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the attack by Argentine planes off Bluff Cove is expected to rise even higher because of serious injuries sustained by some of the casualties.

Senior government sources have refused to say sources have refused to say how many men died in the latest fighting, and could not give any date when the final death toll would be officially released.

But it is understood next of kin would have been informed by today. At least 43 are believed to have died, with 130 wounded.

Tuesday's attack on the landing ships - Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram - coupled with the atrocious weather over the Falklands in the past week, is understood to have held up the expected assault on Port Stanley, although Whitehall still regards it as imminent.

Brave sailors saved many lives

‘A lot of lives were saved by some very brave sailors.’

The words belong to Captain David Hart-Dyke, the Commanding Officer of the stricken HMS Coventry.

And they described vividly Capt Hart-Dyke's admiration for the crew of the Type-42 destroyer.

As he recalled the fateful day, May 25, the battle-scarred Captain - his face seared with burns received when his Portsmouth-based vessel was bombed - said: ‘The ship's company will always be my heroes.

‘I know each of them and I will never forget them.’

Capt. Hart-Dyke, from Petersfield, was speaking on the quayside of Southampton Docks yesterday - an occasion so emotionally charged that it will forever remain etched in the minds of those who saw it.

Argentine C.O. losing spirit

The bleakly pessimistic personal views of General Menendez, the Argentine commander in Port Stanley, have been overheard in Chile on an unscrambled phone line between his Government House headquarters and the High Command in Buenos Aires.

The message, monitored within the past 24 hours, acknowledges that morale is rather low.

Gen. Menendez blames this on the British blockade, which means that no supplies and no mail for his men have reached Port Stanley recently.

Overheard on the radio link, the General says that many of his troops had been promised they were going to be relieved and sent home, but this had not proved possible because of advancing British forces.

Other

Headline - 'World Cup trip off' telegram shock

Four young people's hopes of a dream holiday lie in ruins - because of an 11th hour telegram telling them the trip is off.

Miss Carol Blagg (20), of Highfield Road, Fratton, and three friends had been counting the days away to England's World Cup matches in Spain.

Carol, Kerry Harris (18), of Landport, John Dridge (23), and Andy Longman (19), both from Emsworth, had paid £275 each for a two-week self-catering chalet holiday.

They were due to leave on Monday in time to see England's opening match against France on Wednesday.

But the trip was thrown in doubt after a telegram from Leeds-based holiday firm Oyster Travel said the holiday could be off because an £18,000 cheque they had received from K.P. Promotions had not been honoured.