DEFENDING THE FALKLANDS PART II THE MARINES PREPARE

“THERE WERE NO CAR HORNS, NO SIRENS – JUST A NEAR TOTAL SILENCE. THAT SILENCE WAS ABOUT TO BE RUDELY SHATTERED”

Early on the evening of Monday 29 March 1982 the new Naval Party 8901 (the Royal Marine Falklands garrison) sailed through the Narrows and into Stanley Harbour. Ahead was Stanley itself, the Falklands’ capital, with its brightly coloured houses clustered around the harbour jetty. For the Marines it formed a picture-postcard scene. The tiny settlement of just over a thousand inhabitants occupied an area about half a mile long. “The streets were clean and tidy,” remembered Corporal Jim Fairfield. “And it was the sense of silence that struck me the most. There were no car horns, no sirens – just a near total silence.” That silence was about to be rudely shattered.

Arrival

Marine Gary Williams was one of the new detachment. “As we approached Stanley the weather was fine,” Williams recalled. “There was a crowd of people waiting for us to dock at the government jetty, at the rear of the town hall. Then we were taken off to Moody Brook [the Royal Marines Barracks] where we were allocated our rooms and started to settle in.” Detachment Quartermaster Sergeant Bill Aspinall added,