RFA Sir Galahad survivors want truth after Falklands horror

Mike Hermanis, 61, and Kevin Edwards, 65, were both on board the RFA Sir Galahad when it was bombed by Argentinian aircraft in 1982.

The first strike in the Bluff Cove air attacks came at around 2pm local time, Tuesday, June 8. Some 56 men were killed, including 38 from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, with more than 150 wounded.

The incident accounted for around a fifth of the total British death toll in the conflict which ended the following Monday.

‘Heroics’

Mr Hermanis, just 19 years old at the time, joined the army after watching the Iranian Embassy siege unfold on the TV while at the National Club and Institute pub on Newport’s Duckpool Road.

“We were coming up through the galley,” he said, remembering the moments before the strike. “I must have been 20 feet from the door and we were all bunched up like sardines.”

Mike Hermanis joined the army as a teenager after watching the Iranian Embassy siege on TV in Newport (Image: Sam Portillo)

An air threat warning sounded through the ship - and then it went black.

“It shook. I got thrown through the door like a rag doll. I landed on it - three inches of solid metal.

“Mayhem broke loose. Everything that had been in slow motion went back into real time, and there was a bit of panic. I could feel someone running over me.

“It took six of us to lift this door and we dragged someone out. We gave him the kiss of life and got him going again, but he was unconscious. We were trying to work out how to get him off the boat. There were a lot of heroics that day.”

Four casualties of the Sir Galahad bombing. L-R: Mark Gibby (killed), Andy Broad (severely injured), Mike Dunphy (killed), Ian Dale (killed). (Image: Supplied)

His memories of those moments are still vivid and haunting, and he has only become more emotional about it with age. Ian Dale, who slept in the next bed over, was killed, and he had recurring dreams of his good friend Mike Dunphy, who was severely burned, for around twenty years.

He remembers the “choking” smoke - and breathing out, so as to not burn his lungs. One soldier suffered a split across his forehead and the explosion singed another’s hair.

The heat “peeled” another man's tattooed skin from his hand. Another was flung head first into the cooking oil.

‘Chasm of fire’

Mr Edwards, then just 23 years of age, was in the hold of the ship.

“We were just about to get off and someone shouts: ‘take cover'. So, I took cover and the bomb came straight through the hatch,” he said.

“On standing up, I see the person in front of me is fully alight. Head to toe. Shouting at me, and the people around me: ‘Somebody shoot me’. I tried to take out my water bottle to throw it over him.

Kevin Edwards, just 23 years old at the time, saw the person in front of him 'fully alight' (Image: Sam Portillo)

“I looked behind him, where there were 30 men sitting down, and nobody was there. It was just a chasm of fire. The men who were sitting there were gone.”

As the lights went out, the soldier who was on fire “illuminated” the way up the stairs as he ran to the deck.

“I made my way up the stairs and we went onto the deck where we administered first aid to all the injured,” said Mr Edwards.

“There was a lot of bravery on that ship that day. It was quite calm, actually, the way we dealt with it.”

He helped to carry a casualty whose foot was “hanging on by a thread” to the helicopter. The rotor blades churned up the blood and blew it over his face.

Once ashore, they completed a name-call to see who was left after the attacks. It took around 24 hours to account for everyone.

‘Enough is enough’

Mr Hermanis, Mr Edwards and the Galahad Committee have organised a “solemn” commemorative lunch with 240 other veterans in Cardiff this Saturday, March 23.

One of the fallen soldiers will be represented by their 100-year-old mother. A number of lawmakers, including Newport East MP Jessica Morden, will be there to show their support.

They want the full and unredacted release of the Board of Inquiry from 1982 which they believe will clear their names after decades of blame.

The Galahad Committee have arranged a 'solemn' lunch in Cardiff this weekend (Image: Supplied)

The documents are currently due to be released in 2065 - by which point, the veterans who remain will be centenarians.

Fellow survivor Crispin Black, another Welsh Guardsman, has written a book based on analysis of National Archives files.

In it, he attributes the disaster to mistakes in planning and communication which led to the Galahad being in the wrong place without air cover or naval support.

“The bereaved and veterans have endured almost 42 years of blame in most publications,” Mr Edwards said.

“42 years of defamation of our character, our capabilities, and the names of our fallen dragged through the dirt. Enough is enough. We who remain will all be history by 2065.”

“We’ve had murder for 40 years,” said Mr Hermanis. “Our officers were blamed. It’s akin to blaming the passengers for an civil airline crash.

“Basically, we were on a civilian cargo ship. We weren’t on a Royal Navy ship. It would be like sending you in a black cab in Belfast, instead of an armoured car.”