Falklands War anniversary: Welshman Guardsman Tracy Evans speaks of entering the ‘unknown’

Added by Erik West on April 2, 2012

On April 2, 1982, the Falkland Islands were invaded by the then-ruling military junta in Argentina, sparking a 74-day conflict with Britain. Tracy Evans, a keen young photographer from Wales, brought his 8mm video camera to the front to record his experience.

Tracy Evans, then 18, served as a radio operator with 4 Platoon 2 Company Welsh Guards during the conflict. The fascinating footage he shot on his personal 8mm cine-camera has been stored away in his attic for the past thirty years and has only been seen by family and close friends. It is now being aired publicly for the first time.

It shows a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the conflict as soldiers pitch camp, go on patrol and come under fire.

The islands were wet and miserable, Guardsman Evans said, but he “just got on with the job and put-up with the conditions.”

He recalls the devastating moment he found out 56 personnel onboard the HMS Sir Galahad were killed in an Argentine air raid, but says he got by “living each day as it came,” with a dose of “black humour” shared by Guardsman Evans and his colleagues.