British families
protest Falkland
burial for troops
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday,,June 2, 1982-Page 5
LONDON (AP)- "If I should die,
think only this of me; that there is some
corner of a foreign field that is forever
England."
The famous lines from Rupert
Brooke's World War I poem "The
Soldier" were quoted by a Defense
Ministry official defending the burial of
19 British soldiers on the Falkland
Islands last Sunday.
SOLDIERS' families and comrades
protested that the men were being left
on a battlefield 8,000 miles from home.
The troops and their commander, Lt.
Col. Herbert Jones, killed in the recap-
ture of Goose Green from Argentine
troops last Friday, were buried on a
bare hillside overlooking the British
beachhead at San Carlos.
Although the simple service-
described by one British war
correspondent as "very moving"-
followed military tradition, it brought
immediate outcries.
THE SUN, a London newspaper that
has given spirited support to the gover-
nment during the conflict, led its front
page yesterday with the protests under
the headline: "Bring Back Our Dead
Bo'ys."
Cecil Parkinson, chairman of the
ruling Conservative Party and a senior
member of Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher's Cabinet, said yesterday the
government would consider whether to
return the soldiers' bodies to Britain for
permanent burial.
"There is a time-honored way of
dealing with the dead soldiers, sailors
and airmen," he said. "They are buried
decently and promptly during the con-
flict and subsequently reburied in
cemeteries run by the War Graves
Commission."
JANE BINGLEY, whose husband, 24-
year-old Lance Cpl. Garry Bingley, was
among those buried Sunday, said, "I
want Garry back here with us."
She said that before he left for the
Falklands, Bingley gave instructions
that: "If I'm killed out there, I want to
be buried in Aldershot . . . This is my
home."
Bingley's father, David, a civilian in-
structor with the Defense Ministry,
said, "It seems a tragedy that your son
can be killed all those thousands of
miles away and you can't put flowers on
his grave."
The ministry originally said 17 men
were buried Sunday, but in the most
recent report from the front, Jeremy
Hands of Independent Television News
said the number was 19.
British troops close in
on Falklands capital
fContilued from Page 1)
shot down one or more of the French-
made Exocets.
Press Association's correspondents,
who are regularly briefed at the British
Defense Ministry, said fewer than 10
British troopers were wounded and
none was killed in the fighting for
Mount Kent, but some Argentines were
slain.
BUT FOR THE first time since the
war erupted April 2, Ar gentine com-
muniques hinted at defeat. Junta
member Gen. Basilio Lami Dozo,
commander of the Argentine Air Force,
said Argentina may have to form a new
government, fueling speculation that
President Leopoldo Galtieri might soon
be deposed.
As the war converged on Stanley for
the decisive battle, the Defense
Ministry in London said 250 Argentines
- twice as many as first thought -
were killed in last week's fighting for
Port Darwin and Goose Green.
SUNDAY, JUNE 6
9am-3pm
POTTERS GUILD
Black hole?
Not quite. This interesting view of the pond at the University's Botanical
Gardens is merely the result of yesterday's heavy rains.
Say thevord or
te number one:
Uno.
1321 S. Daily ll:30-2 a.m.
University HAPPY HOUR J
4Mon-Sat. 4-6
10 p.m.-i a.
restaurant andbar