Service takes place at National Memorial Arboretum to mark 40 years since Falklands War

Video footage shows a few key moments of the service at the National Memorial Arboretum

A service has taken place at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire today to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war.

The Royal British Legion invited veterans, civilians and bereaved family members to the service at the Arboretum in Staffordshire to remember the end of the conflict in 1982, after weeks of fighting.

The conflict lasted 74 days, during which 255 British troops and three Falkland Islanders died, as well as 649 Argentinian military personnel.

Their names are inscribed on the Armed Forces Memorial at the Arboretum.

Elsewhere in the Midlands, hundreds of life-sized silhouettes of military personnel and civilians who lost their lives in the Falklands conflict are being unveiled at Thoresby Park, in Nottinghamshire.

The Standing with Giants project includes 255 figures of seafarers, Royal Marines, the Army, the air force and three civilians who lost their lives during the 1982 conflict. They will be on display for five weeks.

They were previously displayed in the Falklands but this will be the first time they go on show in the UK.

Last week, Boris Johnson paid tribute to British forces, saying they had achieved what "many thought was impossible".

He went on to say: "We were fighting for the essential principle that the Falkland Islanders, like people everywhere, have a sovereign right to decide their own destiny and choose their own loyalty.

"As we look at the world today, we can see all too obviously how that principle is still in peril and still needs defending.

"There is always some dictator testing whether this country and our friends are really willing to stand up for that principle, which is the essential basis of a peaceful world.

"Forty years ago in the Falklands, our armed forces showed that we would stand up for what was right."