Falklands : Sunny Outcome for Falklands 27
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 15.06.2009 (Article Archived on 29.06.2009)
The 27th anniversary of liberation from Argentine occupation has been marked in Stanley.
Photo (c) J. Brock (FINN) H. E. the Governor Mr Alan Huckle lays a wreath at the Liberation Monument on Sunday morning.
SUNNY OUTCOME FOR FALKLANDS 27
By J. Brock (FINN)
The 27th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation took place on Sunday, 14 June 2007 under sunny skies and with mild temperatures.
Regular church services were held at 0800hrs with an interdenominational civic service held in Christ Church Cathedral at 0945AM.
The Band of the Royal Logistical Corps played entrance music for a congregation that included His Excellency the Governor Mr Alan Huckle and Mrs Helen Huckle, Commander British Forces South Atlantic Islands Air Commodore Gordon Moulds and Mrs Moulds, Members of the Legislative Assembly as well as representatives from the Falkland Islands Defence Force, the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Merchant Navy, Service Groups and Youth Groups. A group of veterans, along with members of SAMA ’82 also were able to make the journey to the Falklands to attend the service as well as the memorial ceremony at the monument.
Leading the service was The Rev Dr Richard Hines, Priest in Charge of the Cathedral. Assisting with the service were the Armed Forces Chaplain, Monsignor Michael McPartland of St Mary’s Catholic Church and the Rev. Paul Evans of the Tabernacle Free Church.
The Rev Dr Hines opened the civic service by welcoming the congregation to the anniversary of the 27th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands.
1982 War Dead then were honoured with a minute’s silence followed by a prayer of thanksgiving for their lives read by the Armed Forces Chaplain.
The first hymn was “O Worship the King,” accompanied by the Band of the Royal Logistical Corps.
H. E. the Governor Mr Alan Huckle read a passage from Psalm 24. “Our Lord and Father of Mankind,” followed the reading.
LCDR John Mascall-Bott read the second lesson from the book of Habakkuk followed by the hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise”
A reading from the Letter of James was followed by bidding prayers by Monsignor Michael Mc Partland and Rev. Paul Evans.
A member of the Youth Groups then read a passage from the Gospel of John Chapter 12. “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” followed the reading.
The Homily by the Rev Dr Richard Hines:
“It was bitterly cold when I reached the summit of Mt Harriet last Wednesday Evening. There had been a strong, unrelenting westerly wind tugging away at the hood of my coat as I made my way up over blackened, lichen covered rocks and on up towards the top. And the same wind had made my eye water and sent streaks of tears across numb cheeks.
Once over the brow of Harriet with the chance to pause and to catch my breath, I looked up. There before me was a scene of exquisite and haunting beauty. The sun was about to set behind the patchy, low cloud which scattered across towards Berkley Sound in the north-east. And I was dazzled by its fierce orange glow as it spanned the gaps and lit up Goat Ridge at Tumbledown for the last few minutes of the day.
Just before the sun disappeared all together, I had time to turn to my right and to notice how a shaft of sunlight was picking out Stanley in the distance. This town, with 9/10ths of the Islands population concentrated here, appeared to me that early evening to be at once snug, settled and peaceful, small, somewhat precarious and even vulnerable.
Having then turned for home, I passed over the brow again, stopped briefly at the memorial cross, which looks over to Port Harriet and the ocean beyond and took a moment to read the names of those who were killed close by during the campaign to liberate these Islands in 1982.
There may not have been much time for the (Royal) Marines of 42 Commando to pause and reflect from the top of Mt Harriet on that day when they brilliantly re-captured it 27 years ago but less than 48 hours later during the daylight hours of the 14th of June, amidst gusting sleet and snow showers, Argentine soldiers made their desperate and disorganised retreat off the mountains, down to the town and plans were quickly set in place for official surrender documents to be signed in Government House at 8:59 PM.
Notwithstanding the chaos and the mayhem that surrounded him in those momentous days, Lt Col Hugh Pike of 3 Para found time to write to his family in touching terms. ‘I am so terribly sad about the people we lost,” he wrote, “The Duke of Wellington was indeed right when he spoke about the melancholy nature of victory.”
Today, once again, 27 years on we bring to the climax the 74 day season of remembrance, reflection, and, above all, profound thanksgiving for the liberation of these Islands from the hands of invaders.. And once again we remind ourselves of the cost. – the great cost – hundreds of lives cut short, injuries sustained- families and friends bereaved of loved ones – memories permanently seared.
The liberation for which we give thanks again this morning was achieved by immense courage, determination and professional skill on the part of military and civilian personnel who came from overseas and by residents of the Falkland Islands themselves.
And those who served with the Armed Forces here in the Falkland Islands today and for whom Islanders and others alike remain deeply grateful do so as part of a noble tradition which stretches a long way back and includes the finest examples of bravery and courage on offer anywhere.
Thus was liberty recovered and a priceless gift was bequeathed to the people of the Falkland Islands - the freedom of a community to determine for itself its own future. But with recovered liberty, of course, came the burden of responsibility to make the most of the precious gift. And there’s an equal and additional, valuable consequence of liberation has come a measure of economic prosperity with educational and commercial opportunities undreamed of before the conflict.
Liberation has certainly been in the air this weekend. A quick glance at the local newspaper reveals liberation offers at one well-known store, liberation specials at another - which are the cheapest, I wonder, though? There was an excellent Town Hall concert to celebrate liberation on Friday evening, a Liberation Day party here in town last night and a Liberation Day Ball this evening – on a Sunday – whatever next?
And the newspaper’s thoughtful editorial has encouraged each one of us to enjoy one of those days like Christmas where animosity disappears. Everyone is just happy to be and to exist within a feeling that unites rather than separates.
But what a challenge to keep alive a love and appreciation of liberty - what a challenge to understand what true liberty means in practice and what daunting tasks face those who will lead our community during the next four years through increasingly complex and social and economic circumstances. Yes, very soon now Islanders must elect members of a new Government to serve our high ideals, rooted as they must be in liberty.
Those Members may well at times require a measure of the same god-given courage, determination and self sacrifice which first recovered liberty for the Islands in 1982. They will need such character if they are to apply themselves as required and work out how, week by week, our liberty can best be used and enjoyed for the happiness and well-being of us all.
So, in the spirit of this liberation weekend and certainly without spending our critical faculties, lets recognise the gratitude – the considerable personal cost to individuals and their families which this task of leadership has demanded during the past four years.
And let’s pray that there will be men and women of integrity, determination, patience and skill, who are able and willing to enter into their labours for the coming four years.
In the third of our short Bible readings this morning we are encouraged to gaze into what James, the Apostle called the perfect law of liberty. A phrase pregnant with meaning, it refers to the God breathed wisdom and guidance which Christians believe the Holy Scriptures offer. It’s just this sore of wisdom and guidance and if necessary rebuke which Elected Members and the rest of us would need to achieve the things we ask of God in prayer for the whole community of the Falkland Islands whenever the Legislative Assembly meets. Each time we pray for public wealth, peace, tranquillity, and the uniting together of the hearts of all in true Christian love and service towards one another.
Yes, liberation is definitely in the air but what about economic prosperity? We have learned enough during this past year to know that few things are certain in the world of economics, commerce or even of natural resources. But this is precisely the sort of circumstance in which God’s perfect law of liberty still speaks to those who will listen. It was this law – this divinely inspired wisdom which reassured the Prophet Habakkuk, whom we heard in the second short Bible reading today. At the time he couldn’t see the way forward out of the perplexing dilemmas of his people, nevertheless, Habakkuk declared an unshakable confidence for the future because of the goodness and the love of God.
Having lived in our day – having been based at one of our churches here in town,, he might, perhaps, have written “Though the jiggers don’t appear through the Narrows and though the Illex doesn’t come in the ocean,, though the ewes fail to produce and the bottom falls out of the wool market, though the cruise ships pass us by and so no one comes ashore, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. God, the Lord, is my strength.”
But I just can’t forget that image of Stanley glimpsed from the top of Mt Harriet the other day. Lit momentarily by the sunlight and appearing snug, settled and peaceful. And I supplement that image by holding also in my mind’s eye, the scattered settlements around the Camp of East and West Falkland and those outlaying islands. They, too, have inherited the legacy of recovered freedom and they, too share in the responsibility to be good and responsible stewards of liberty and economic prosperity.
Small, we certainly are here in the South Atlantic – snug, settled and peaceful, I hope we feel sometimes. But are we precarious or vulnerable?
If the 3,000 or so residents of the Falkland Islands do ever feel themselves to be small and vulnerable they will not be the first such group of people in the world to do so. In this building and the other churches in the Islands, we regularly read and hear about one small group – parts of his history is recorded in the Old Testament section in the Bible – a small and vulnerable group that several times was over-run by armed invaders, decimated, taken into exile, generally oppressed economically and politically as well as militarily. But we also read of the extraordinary ways in which God remained faithful to them and provided for them, small and vulnerable though they were.
Supremely, that faithfulness was manifested in the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, in whose vulnerable and precarious life, with all its courage and determination and willing final self sacrifice, Christians discern the measure of what true human liberty and life is all about.
If, as the Psalm writer of our first Bible reading this morning confidently declared, “The earth is the Lord’s, the world and all those who live in it,” then a self determining people will do wisely and well if they seek that Lord’s help. If they gaze into his perfect law of liberty which lays open for them to consult, and if they choose to walk in the light of his kindly commands and laws, in a word, if they desire the right, which he makes clear to us, and then humbly rejoices in the liberty his grace and goodness makes possible. Only then, perhaps, under the sunshine of God’s mercy and care, will Falkland Islanders know themselves to be truly free and truly secure.”
“To Be a Pilgrim,” was the hymn that followed the homily. A collection was taken during the hymn. The National Anthem was played and the service ended.
After the service the Band formed up and lead contingents from the Falkland Islands Defence Force, Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force to Liberation Monument. Members of the Youth Groups also formed up at the Monument. Wreaths were laid by H. E. the Governor mr Alan Huckle, Cllr John Birmingham and CBSAI, Air Commodore Gordon Moulds and other members of the Military and the civilian community.
A civic reception for the community, complete with buskers, was then held at the Town Hall. During the day people had the opportunity to meet with each other and enjoy the atmosphere as well as the good weather. A Liberation Ball was held in the evening.
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