Three Days in June, page 4
Pte Simon Clark, 22 yrs – 1 Section, 6 Platoon
We were moving in file at a fairly slow pace at first. There were three or four people in front of me, and our guides were Cpl Phillips and LCpl Wright from D Company.
Pte Julian (Baz) Barrett, 17 yrs – 3 Section, 6 Platoon
Pte Stu Grey stopped in front of me. He gestured for me to come closer. ‘We’re in a minefield, don’t stray. Pass it on.’ I didn’t really register the implications of the message until I had dutifully passed the message back to Pte Den Dunn, who just grunted on hearing the news.
Although there are many 17-year-olds in B Company, Baz Barrett is the youngest member of the company.
Cpl Jerry Phillips
LCpl Steve Wright and I led the platoon, with Lt Shaw following, then the rest of 6 Platoon behind him. We crossed the open ground to the front of Mount Longdon and I concentrated on taking the correct route up. We went across to the south-west corner, and advanced up the western slope in single file.
Pte Stuart Grey, 19 yrs – 3 Section, 6 Platoon
As we approached the base of Mount Longdon there was a light mist or fog. We later found out that we had bypassed enemy troops asleep in their bunkers. In the dark mass of rocks, you couldn’t see where the enemy positions were and so we quietly kept moving up.
Cpl Jerry Phillips
We kept moving up to a point where I would release 6 Platoon to complete their various tasks. I reached the drop-off point and said to Lt Shaw, ‘Right, there’s the summit. Do you know where you’re going from here, are you okay?’ He said, ‘I’ll take it from here.’
Pte Steve Richards, 18 yrs – 2 Section, 6 Platoon
As we moved further up the mountain I noticed my breathing was getting rather heavy. I wasn’t sure whether it was the weight of all the ammunition that I was carrying or just the anticipation of what was about to come. I was worried that everyone could hear me.
01.07hrs (zt): from C/S 29 to C/S 9: ‘Contact wait-out.’
Lt Jonathan Shaw
We progressed up the hill at a steady pace. It was quite misty, and we couldn’t see very much. We managed to get probably about three-quarters of the way up when Cpl Milne stood on a mine.
Pte Phil Simpson, 20 yrs – HQ Company attached to 6 Platoon
There was a small explosion and a scream. I knew the shit had just hit the fan. LCpl Doc Murdoch turned to us and said, ‘That’s it. Let’s go, boys!’ We began racing up towards Fly Half, which was only about 20 metres away. As we moved through it and over it we began descending on the eastern slope. Doc Murdoch signalled ‘extended line’, and we started advancing down the eastern slope.
Cpl Trev Wilson
I said to the lads, ‘Right, guys. Let’s fucking go!’ Now that the mine had gone off and firing was taking place on the northern side, we switched from tactical to non-tactical and the race was on to get to the top as fast as possible. Once we reached Fly Half we advanced straight over. We were approaching the First Bowl; my section was the extreme left section and we had still not been engaged; LCpl Doc Murdoch advanced to the centre, and Cpl John Steggles was extreme right.
Lt Jon Shaw
There was small-arms fire going in all directions, screaming, shouting – absolute bedlam. Cpl Wilson’s section came into contact almost immediately on reaching Fly Half. LCpl Doc Murdoch went straight over and seemed to have a clear run down the eastern slope. Cpl Steggles with 2 Section assaulted a .50 calibre heavy machine-gun position around the area of Fly Half. It was chaos.
Pte Steve Richards
We all began to run. I could hear machine-gun fire and small-arms fire. My Section Commander Cpl Steggles shouted, ‘Right, 2 Section. Follow me!’ There was an enemy position on the top right. We moved in pairs, me and Pte Trevor (Benji) Benjamin, basically skirmishing up the mountain until we reached a bunker with a .50 Cal heavy machine gun. We threw grenades. As soon as they exploded, we jumped in firing, but the position was empty. Cpl Steggles said, ‘I know how to use this.’ He told us to break out the ammunition, then loaded the gun and swung it around to face east. He started firing. Bright green tracer rounds left the barrel of the gun, and we all opened fire in the direction of the tracer rounds.
This is Cpl Carlos Colemil’s heavy machine-gun position (No. 5).
Pte Stuart Grey
The noise was deafening, and everyone seemed to be shouting. There were rounds going in every direction, the Argentines were now alert to us, there were screams and shouting in Spanish. Cpl Trev Wilson was calling out fire-control orders, desperately trying to win the firefight.
Cpl Trev Wilson
One of our machine-gunners Pte Mick Lynch was having a problem with his GPMG. The gun had jammed and he couldn’t clear it. LCpl Dave Scott ran forward and tried to clear the stoppage. In the end, Dave stood the gun upright and kicked down on the cocking handle. He then took over the gun and began putting down suppressive fire.
Incoming fire was all around us. Dave Scott and I slowly edged our way forward to the lip of the First Bowl; we were just behind a built-up stone bunker. I was lying next to Dave, who was putting fire into the various Argentine positions to our front. I passed my GPMG ammunition to him and shouted several fire indications – not that he needed any as he was working well, putting fire into the multitude of positions.
LCpl Murdoch’s 1 Section is as yet unopposed on the eastern slope.
Pte Kevin Eaton, 19 yrs – 1 Section, 6 Platoon
I was on the extreme left. On the eastern slope, there was no one there, no enemy, no resistance. We continued for about 100 metres and reached an area just beyond the Second Bowl. In the distance, we could see Port Stanley. Behind me, I could hear small-arms fire and screaming. LCpl Doc Murdoch said, ‘Right, lads. Stop here.’ We all dropped to one knee, and he signalled, ‘Get down.’ We all lay down across the eastern slope facing the Full Back position. We now began to receive some incoming fire from Full Back. I turned the gas regulator on my GPMG up to three and started firing away.
Pte Morgan Slade
I could hear Cpl Trev Wilson’s voice shouting, and I also remember hearing someone yelling, ‘They’ve got Fester [Pte Tony Greenwood] they’ve got Fester.’ This was followed shortly by, ‘Fester’s dead.’
Pte Simon Clark
We could hear the sound of heavy contact to our left on the northern side, but for us it was still quiet. I was thinking all the time, ‘When are they going to open fire?’ We then lay down facing Full Back. It was after that we started receiving small-arms fire from Full Back and we began returning fire at the muzzle flashes.
Pte Phil Simpson
We had now advanced approximately 100 metres when there were muzzle flashes coming from about 300 metres away. Morgan Slade and I opened fire, then Kev Eaton began firing his GPMG. After a short while Doc Murdoch told us to stop firing, as he was on the radio trying to speak to Lt Shaw.
Back on Fly Half.
Pte Julian (Baz) Barrett
The night became a torrent of red and green tracer and flashes of light. It seemed like all the air had gone and there was just noise and a crazy light show raging against the pitch-black sky. The next thing I knew I felt like I had been drilled through the hips, tossed up in the air like a rag doll. It felt like it was happening in slow motion, but when my chin hit the ground it knocked my senses back into my head. I could hear myself screaming. The pain was overwhelming. All I could do was scream my head off. I couldn’t move any of my limbs at all and I was starting to panic.
Cpl Trev Wilson
Dave Scott had stopped firing, so I turned to look at him and thought, Fucking hell, he’s dead! I shouted over to Pte Harry Gannon, who was also returning fire, ‘Harry, get your fucking arse over here! Dave’s gone down.’ I carried on firing while Harry came crawling across to check Dave.
Pte Harry Gannon, 20 yrs – 3 Section, 6 Platoon
I quickly rolled him over, but it was immediately apparent Dave was dead. I checked him for a pulse and looked for any signs of life, but Dave was definitely dead.
Pte Julian (Baz) Barrett
I could hear voices cutting through the chaos, on my forward right shouting, ‘Scotty’s dead!’ and then, ‘Fester’s dead.’ Den Dunn let me know he was moving forward, but I couldn’t give him covering fire. Den came anyway; he ran past me, on towards where Stu disappeared to. He disappeared down into the darkness and within no time at all he had been shot in the shoulder.
Pte Nick Rose, 20 yrs – 3 Section, 6 Platoon
We were taking heavy incoming fire when Pte Tony [Fester] Greenwood shouted to me, ‘Nick, stoppage!’ I continued firing while Tony cleared his weapon, and then heard Tony continue firing. Shortly after this I called back to Tony, ‘Changing mags!’ That’s when I saw him lying face down over a rock that he’d been using for cover.
Pte Dave Roe
Pte Darren Nichols and Pte Gareth Lewis were to my left when the firing started. We hit the ground, and I shouted, ‘It’s us, it’s us!’ because I wasn’t sure what was happening. At one stage we jumped into an Argentine shit pit for cover, only to find a dead Argentinian already in there. We rolled him in front of us, using him as a bit of cover as tracer rounds were hitting the ground and ricocheting off in all directions.
Pte Julian (Baz) Barrett
Sgt Pete Gray, Pte Nick Rose and Pte Harry Gannon ran through the fire to treat me. They were really exposed and bloody lucky not to get hit. In an attempt to stifle the heavy enemy fire, Pete Gray, who was right by my head, pulled the pin out of a grenade and rose slightly to throw it. As he did so, he was shot in the wrist. Automatically he let go of the grenade.
Pte Harry Gannon
Pete Gray said, ‘The grenade’s gone off in my hand and blown it off.’ I felt his wrist, and said, ‘Your hand is still there, it’s okay,’ but I thought, Where’s the fucking grenade? There was a moment of panic because there was now a rogue grenade about to explode. Luckily, it had rolled down into the First Bowl, then exploded. I then felt up his forearm, and I could feel something sticking out. I said, ‘Pete, you’ve got a big piece of shrapnel sticking out your arm’ [It was in fact bone.] I put a couple of shell dressings on his forearm and gave him morphine.
Cpl Trev Wilson
As I passed a gap in the rocks, I was opened fire upon, but wasn’t hit. I took cover with Den Dunn, who had been shot in the shoulder. Just to the side of the rock I was taking cover behind, I could see human breath on the cold night air. I turned to Den and said, ‘There’s someone behind this fucking rock. We’re going to have to sort these fucking blokes out. Brace yourself.’ I pulled the pin and tossed the grenade, but it struck a rock, bounced and exploded short of its intended target. A small piece of shrapnel caught me in my right hand, causing me to curse. Den asked, ‘Are you okay to throw another one, Trev?’ I said, ‘Fucking right I am!’ I tossed another one around the corner, which exploded. Immediately I heard a groan and saw in the cold night air a large exhale of breath.
Cpl Jimmy Morham
Lt Shaw was trying to find out what was happening. We received some tracer fire from our rear coming from the southern side of the western slope; we returned fire into the position and it never fired back again. Cpl Ronnie Cooper, our MFC [mortar-fire controller], said, ‘Jimmy, that was a mine explosion; someone has stood on a mine.’ Just then someone shouted, ‘Dodsworth, you’re needed up the top!’ Mark immediately began running forward with his huge Bergen full of medical supplies. His Bergen was so large it got wedged between the rocks and I had to give him a push, saying, ‘Come on, Dodsy, get your arse through there, mate!’
1.2 ‘I don’t want anyone one else going forward; it’s just too fucking dangerous!’
01.28hrs (zt): from C/S 29 to C/S 9: ‘All call signs in contact, but making good progress for Full Back.’
Pte Steve Richards
I heard Lt Shaw shouting over to us to stop firing the .50 Cal. He shouted, ‘Stop firing that fucking gun, it’s drawing fire.’ He was right: a heavy volley of green tracer came down on our position. Pte Mark Dodsworth brushed by me as rounds seemed to be flying everywhere and people were screaming from both sides. Suddenly Mark Dodsworth was thrown backwards between Benji and me as a number of rounds hit him. I tried to find his wounds but couldn’t work my way through his multiple layers of clothing. I found his morphine and jabbed the Syrette into his leg.
Pte Dave Roe
Pte Mark Dodsworth had been very badly wounded. I remember him telling us to ‘Elevate, elevate my legs!’ We couldn’t take him down to the aid post at this stage as we were under a tremendous weight of fire, but Mark was still talking. I was on his left-hand side and I was trying to comfort him, but there was tracer going all over the place.
LCpl Steve Wright, 22 yrs – D Company Guide
Cpl Phillips and I started moving up towards Fly Half. Jerry and I skirmished up towards Fly Half firing the odd couple of rounds, and when we reached the top we found an unoccupied stone bunker. It was really chaotic, there were people running about, just black figures. Then a member of 6 Platoon came across to us and asked if we could help. Jerry and I now decided to separate; I crawled over onto the eastern slope with this member of 6 Platoon to try to help a number of the wounded on the forward edge of Fly Half.
Pte Steve Richards
I knew that a shell dressing held around a pint of blood and the one I had applied to Mark filled up within minutes. Dave Roe was now with us, and he was talking to Mark Dodsworth, trying to reassure him and hold his hand. Suddenly Jerry Phillips appeared. All the time this was going on there were rounds bouncing off the rocks all around us.
Lt Jonathan Shaw
I came across a group of soldiers around our company medic, Pte Dodsworth. I remember he was saying, ‘I’m cold, I’m cold.’ By now I had lost sight of 1 Section; they had gone out of my line of sight, so I got on the radio to LCpl Murdoch and said, ‘I want you to bring your section back to my location right away.’
We now continue with 1 Section located approximately 100 metres east of Fly Half:
Pte Phil Simpson
Word got passed to me that we were now going to move back to Fly Half. We just got up and started withdrawing back the way we’d come, in extended line.
Pte Kevin Eaton
We began skirmishing up the eastern slope heading towards Fly Half. As we moved forward, we were aware of gunfire and shouting to our front, but no one was actually shooting at us, and we still hadn’t seen any Argentines. We began to call out, ‘1 Section coming in!’ The next thing I remember I was flying through the air; I had been shot in the top of my left leg.
Pte Simon Clark
On my right, Doc Murdoch had dropped down low. I shouted, ‘Doc, what’s up?’ He replied, ‘Kev Eaton’s been hit.’
Pte Phil Simpson
Privates Morgan Slade, Bryn Cowley, Michael [Mushrooms] Bateman and I dropped into a shallow piece of cover on the southern side of the eastern slope, virtually opposite Kev Eaton, and began firing at any green muzzle flashes.
Pte Kevin Eaton
Doc Murdoch heard me cry out. I was lying at the side of a clump of rocks by the First Bowl, about 40 metres from Fly Half. He dropped to his knees and asked, ‘Where’ve you been hit?’ He began to take a shell dressing out of its wrapper when a round clipped him on the hand. He cried out and shook his hand and whispered, ‘The wee bastards,’ but continued to apply the dressing to my thigh.
Pte Simon Clark
As I reached Doc Murdoch, he was putting a shell dressing on Kev Eaton. I moved over to a gap in the rocks for some extra cover, but Doc said, ‘Don’t go there, I think that’s where Kev got shot from.’ Doc was on his knees, dealing with Kev, when suddenly he was shot in the head.
Pte Kevin Eaton
I remember Doc saying to Simon, something like, ‘Clarkie, watch yourself; I think Kev got shot from that direction.’ Then he murmured, ‘Ah,’ and slumped across me and rolled off. Doc groaned, ‘Oh my eyes, my eyes, I can’t see, oh mother help me!’
Pte Simon Clark
After Doc had been shot, he began asking for his mother. I crawled closer into the rock, and then about a minute later I was also shot. I was thinking, what next? After about five or ten minutes, Doc stopped asking for his mother. The moment Doc Murdoch was shot, his mind was not on Longdon: he was somewhere else, in his childhood maybe. I truly believe Doc passed away in his own world peacefully; it was absolutely heartbreaking.
