Article Marcelo Pozzo - Sinking Of The Belgrano

[Bombardier]

This is a true life account written by Marcelo Pozzo a crew member on the Belgrano at the time it was sunk during the Falklands War.

I’ll tell you about my experience. It was May 2, 1982. At 1600 I left my watch at the Damage Control Station in the heart of the ship. I had to be again on duty at 0000, so I decided to lie down and take a nap until dinnertime. In the very moment that I closed my eyes an unseen hammer-blow knocked me against the upper bunk. When I fell down a heat wave engulfed me, it felt as if the door of a huge blazing oven had suddenly opened. I know I yelled. In a matter of seconds my whole life run before my eyes, like in a movie. The moment passed, I stood up and heard cries and a very particular kind of silence. I realized then that the ship was silent, one gets so used to the humming of the machinery during navigation, it seems as if the boat is alive. Now it wasn’t.

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[saiga]

Thank you for posting this. You know, reading this reminded me of Lt.Col Southby-Tailyour´s words that war is a miserable place. Interview with him and others in this documentary:

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[Bombardier]

Great video.
The Falklands was yet another tragedy caused by Governments with ulterior motives. The Junta in Argentina were in S**t street and had to find a way of getting the people on side, what better way than to stir up national pride with an emotive subject like the sovereignty of the Falklands. Unfortunately that caused the unnecessary loss of valuable lives on both sides.

I joined the army in 1983 but my brother served in an Artillery Regiment during this war. As a young man my national pride was stirred by this war and that is why I joined up (amongst other reasons) demonstrating how easy it is for Governments to influence the lives of people so young in the name of ones country.

Yes GB won that war and yes we celebrated but the cost after of the war was much greater, the experiences of soldiers resulted in them suffering a little understood condition, PTSD and many soldiers took their own lives in the aftermath. Like soldiers of previous wars many are left with a unseen injury that they have to live with for the rest of their lives. For a soldier, no war ever ends.

To be clear I do not condemn the actions of either side here, soldiers, sailors and airmen are heroes and are necessary for every country. They act on instructions and cannot protest when they are tasked with taking the lives of others. I do condemn the actions of the Junta, they had nothing more in mind than protecting their own postions and they should never be forgiven.

I still to this day cannot understand why we have not resolved the issue of the Falklands. Governments should come up with some kind of political plan that sits well with both Governments but more importantly the people of the Falklands/Malvinas

 

[Xcalibur]

Problem is that the Falkland Islanders want to remain 100% British, I don't blame them. Any solution must have that factored into it.

 

[Jack-Sparrow]

The Argentinians only want the Islands because of the discovery of rich natural resources.

Recently Argentina has threatened to prevent flights to the Falklands from traveling through its airspace; refused to allow port entry to cruise ships that have visited the Falklands; and persuaded the Mercosur bloc, which includes Brazil and Uruguay, to close ports to all ships flying the Falklands flag. Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is busy persuading other countries to back her case and is whipping up nationalist sentiment at home, declaring that Argentina will control the Islands within 20 years.

Has Argentina not learnt that the British will not succumb to "Bully Boy" tactics, if anything carrying on like that will only strengthen our resolve although the likely hood of us ever turning our backs on British citizens is non existent anyway.

Its time our Allies like the USA put some pressure on Argentina to stop all this nonsense.

Dont forget also that the Islanders were pushed around at gunpoint, their public buildings taken over and their leaders being deported during the Falklands invasion, they will not forget that in a hurry and if the Islands were given up because of international pressure, that is all they could look forward to.

All the Islanders want is to live in peace and to be able to get on with their lives.

 

[saiga]

And because it is a matter of national pride. "We´re at war with them until the day we´re not", one British soldier told me once via discussion on Facebook. We were talking about mounted Granaderos and because of the "letter to banks" affair during that time the discussion went south.

 

[Bombardier]

"letter to banks"

Sorry for my ignorance what was that ?

 

[Bigbird]

Marcelo Pozzo

That was an interesting account from him, thanks for posting it.

I agree with @Jack-Sparrow The Argentine Government need to cool down with their "Bully Boy" tactics and let the people of the Falklands live in peace.

 

[saiga]

Here, I´ve googled the translation into English : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...-oil-threats-the-letter-to-banks-in-full.html
I don´t know if it´s called the "letter-to-banks-affair" (if not, I´ll copyright it ) but it became quickly popular and the message was and still is clear.

 

[Bombardier]

Ah I see, having read it I agree with most of the comments made. This is just another attempt by the Argentinian Authorities to disguise their incompetence. They should also remember their history and the indigenous people they took their land from. As has been said on the comments of that article, Britain populated a baron un-populated Island.

 

[Firefox]

They will never take our beloved Falkland Isles, to many lives have been lost protecting them. British and Argentinian