Argentine Military Cemetery

The Argentine Military Cemetery, Spanish: Cementerio de Darwin ^[2] (Darwin Cemetery), is a military cemetery on East Falkland that holds the remains of 237 Argentine combatants killed during the 1982 Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas). It is located west of the Darwin Settlement close to the location of the Battle of Goose Green.

History

The Cemetery in 2008

In December 1982 the British government commissioned a firm of civilian undertakers to consolidate all of the temporary Argentine graves on the Islands to a single location. Assisted by the armed forces, they identified each Argentine grave site and brought the bodies to Port Darwin. At the time this was the largest single Argentine grave site, with the bodies of the 47 Argentine soldiers, killed at the Battle of Goose Green and buried there soon after the battle.^[3]

Many of the bodies collected were without dog-tags, so best efforts were made to identify each soldier from personal effects found on the body. Single items were not considered conclusive, but collections were. All were given a Christian burial with full military honours. Each grave is marked by a white wooden cross with the name of the soldier on it if known, but 123 of the crosses simply state Soldado Argentino Solo Conocido Por Dios ("Argentine Soldier Known Only By God").

After the conflict the United Kingdom offered to send the bodies back to Argentina, but the Argentine government refused on the grounds that it viewed the islands as part of Argentina.^[4][5]

Up until 2004 the cemetery was surrounded by a small white picket fence. The plot is now protected by a walled enclosure with a cenotaph including an image of Argentina's patron saint, the Virgen del Lujan. Surrounding the graves, the names of the 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives in the conflict, are inscribed on glass plaques, with no indication of military rank or service, as requested by their families.

Since the end of the conflict the bodies of three more Argentine pilots have been interred:

• Capitán Jorge Osvaldo García successfully ejected from his Argentine Skyhawk after being shot down by a Sea Dart surface-to-air missile on 25 May 1982 but was not recovered from the water. His body was washed ashore in a dinghy at Golding Island in 1983.
• Lt. Giménez, a Pucará pilot, whose body was not found until 1986. His burial was attended by his family, the first Argentine relatives to visit the Falklands since the end of the war.^[6]
• Lt Jorge Casco ^video, another Skyhawk pilot, who crashed in bad weather on South Jason Island and was buried on 7 March 2009.^[7] In the case of Lt. Casco, his family requested that his remains be buried on the Falklands even after they were returned to Argentina in July 2008 for DNA testing in order to confirm his identity.

On 9 November 2002 Prince Andrew, himself a Falklands War Veteran, visited the Argentine cemetery and laid a wreath.^[8] During the visit the Prince said, "I lost friends and colleagues and I know what it must be like for the great many Argentines who have shared the same experience."^[8]

Since the UK-Argentine joint statement on 14 July 1999^[9] Argentine families are responsible for the cemetery's upkeep and in 2007, Sebastián Socodo, an Argentine married to a Falkland Islander, was employed to do the job of cemetery maintenance.^[10][11]

There is a replica of the cemetery at Berazategui.^[12]

2012 vandalism

In July 2012 the glass casing protecting a figure of Argentina's patron saint, the Virgin of Luján, at the head of the cemetery was smashed with what appeared to be an axe.^[13] Argentina presented a formal protest to the British government and informed the United Nations and the International Red Cross. Sebastián Socodo, an Argentinian-Falklander^[14] responsible for the cemetery's upkeep, said families were notified and that it was not clear when it occurred or who the perpetrators were. Police in the Falklands held an investigation and the glass casing was repaired.

State of interments

'Monumento a los Caídos en Malvinas' (Monument for the fallen on the Falkland Islands) in Plaza San Martín, Buenos Aires.^[15]

In total 649 Argentines were killed during the 74 days of the conflict.^[16] The Argentine Military Cemetery holds 237 graves.

• Ejército Argentino (Army) – 194 (16 officers, 35 NCOs and 143 conscript privates)
• Armada de la República Argentina (Navy) – 341 (including 321 in Belgrano and 4 naval aviators)
  • IMARA (Marines) – 34
• Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Air Force) – 55 (including 31 pilots and 14 ground crew)
• Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (Border Guard) – 7
• Prefectura Naval Argentina (Coast Guard) – 2
• Civilian sailors – 16

ARA General Belgrano

The greatest loss of life in the war was in the sinking of the Argentine Navy cruiser ARA General Belgrano, with 321 members of crew and 2 civilians on board at the time, with most of these going down with her.^[17]

Buried other places

• Seven Argentines are interred at separate locations:
  • Navy Lt Carlos Benitez was killed on May 3 when he crashed with his Aermacchi MB-339 attempting to land at Port Stanley. He was buried at Stanley cemetery,^[18] before being re-interred at Darwin Cemetery, after the war.^[19]
  • Navy Capt. Pedro Giachino was KIA during April 2nd invasion in Port Stanley but buried in Mar del Plata at his daughter's request.
  • During the Battle of Grytviken at South Georgia, Navy Corporal Patricio Guanca ^[20] from ARA Guerrico and two Argentine Marines conscripts Mario Almonacid and Jorge Aguila , were killed and taken back to Argentina for Burial
  • Navy Petty Officer Felix Artuso was mistakenly shot dead on April 26 in South Georgia while a Prisoner of war and is buried at Grytviken Cemetery.^[21][22]
  • Navy Lt Cmdr Carlos María Zubizarreta was killed in Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego on May 23 when his parachute did not fully open when he ejected from his A-4Q Skyhawk after a tyre burst on landing due to his bombs still being loaded. The plane stopped by itself and did not suffer any damage.^[23][24]
  • Air Force captain Fernando Casado was copilot of Canberra bomber B-108 shot down on June 13. His remains were found in 1986 and held in the Stanley police station until 2008 when DNA testing confirmed his identity. He was returned to Argentina and buried at Cordoba Province in the Malvinas mausoleum of Villa Carlos Paz cemetery ^[25]
• Mainland burials (16 total):
  • Army helicopter UH-1H–BF (AE-419) crash near Caleta Olivia in Patagonia on April 30 during a surveillance mission, killing the crew (Lt Marcos Fassio, Sgt Pedro Campos and Corporal Daniel Barros ) and the 7 man patrol on board.^[26]
  • Army Adjutant Sergeant Alberto Antonio Sanagua (RI 24) cardiac arrest at Punta Loyola, Santa Cruz on May 18
  • Air Force Ensign Mario Luis Valko crashed on May 24 with his Pucará while undertaking a reconnaissance sortie of the Patagonian Coast from Comodoro Rivadavia
  • Army Sublieutenant Juan Omar Abraham (Esc Exp Cbl 1) accident near Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz May 24
  • Army Conscript Aldo Ruben Canteros (B Comm 181) hypothermia near Puerto Madryn, Chubut on June 15
  • Army Lieutenant Julio Cesar Auvieux (B Ing 601) clearing a mine field near Rio Grande airbase, June 1982
  • Army Conscript Sergio Oscar Gomez (HQ 1 Brig) accident at Comodoro Rivadavia, date unknown

Remains not recovered

Sixty-six Argentine combatants were lost with aircraft or ships and their remains were not recovered:

• Canberra Bombers – 2^[27]
• ARA Alférez Sobral – 8
• Spy trawler Narwal – 1
• Aérospatiale Puma – 3
• ARA Isla de los Estados – 22^[28]
• C-130E Hercules – 7
• A-4B/C Skyhawks – 12
• IAI Daggers – 5
• A-4Q Skyhawk – 1
• Learjet – 5

See also

• Blue Beach Military Cemetery at San Carlos – which holds the remains of 14 unrepatriated British servicemen
• Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute#Post-war

References

External links

• Clarín: Interactive panorama with information on the fallen
• Pictorials: Comisión de Familiares, fostlong-photography.com & from the Air
• UK 'regret' over Falklands dead
• (Spanish) Comisión de Familiares de Caídos en Malvinas e Islas del Atlántico Sur – Relatives of the Fallen in the South Atlantic War
• Opening of the Darwin cemetery Memorial