Miguel Savage, then a 19-year-old conscript from Buenos Aires who fought for the 7th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Mount Longdon, was taken aboard the Canberra, a British cruise liner that transferred 4,000 Argentineans to Puerto Madryn, in Patagonia, after the military junta surrendered in Stanley on June 14, 1982.
Mr Savage, who lost three stone during the conflict as the unprepared Argentine troops survived on a diet of maté and soup, is bilingual as his mother, the daughter of British immigrants from Durham, spoke to him in English as a child. His fluency proved to be a valuable tool as he sought to obtain extra food aboard the Canberra.
"We were starving in the trenches," he told The Daily Telegraph at his home in Venado Tuerto, a dusty town of 80,000 people in Santa Fe province, ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.
Read Full Article »