Falklands War service at the National Memorial Arboretum
It’s 30 years since the start of The Falklands War – and today it was commemorated at a special service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Margaret Allen from Ashbourne in Derbyshire lit a candle in the Millennium Chapel that will burn for 74 days.
The flame will represent the duration of the conflict which began when Argentina invaded the British territory in the South Atlantic.
Mrs Allen’s husband, Able Seaman Iain Boldy, was killed in the war during the Argentine attack on HMS Argonaut on May 21, 1982.
Later she suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the death.
Asked how she felt about lighting the candle, she said: "It means an awful lot. It's a real privilege first of all to be able to light the candle, and really to remember all of that community."
She believes we should also remember the families of those who died fighting in the Armed Forces of Argentina.
"I am hoping they are blessed with a place like this and that it affords them the peace that it affords me and families like me.
"For every one of us, there are three or four of them. And I am so sorry."
255 British servicemen lost their lives, and 649 from Argentina.
On May 22 a permanent memorial will be unveiled at the Arboretum for Falklands veterans.
It's nearing completion. But it's being kept under wraps for now.
It will include a number of rocks which have been brought over from the Falklands.
British soldiers battled across them to relieve Port Stanley - to defeat the Argentine forces.
Andrew Lockett, originally from Birmingham, was on HMS Endurance - a survey ship that was near the Falklands when Argentina’s forces invaded.
He attended today's special service and said the ceremony had moved him to tears as several soldiers on board his ship had been killed.
For John Phillips - a former bomb disposal officer from Coventry - the war is always in his thoughts.
He lost his left arm when an unexploded bomb blew up on HMS Antelope.
The blast killed his friend Jim.
With a tear in his eye, he said: "I think of the Falklands every day. Every day I shave in the mirror I am reminded of 1982 because I have lost my arm at the shoulder and I can see it. And every day, I have a quick moment for Jim Prescott and his family."