Britain marks 25th anniversary of Falklands war victory

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PANGBOURNE, England, Jun 14 (AFP): With sombre reflection, Britain's leaders, war veterans and bereaved relatives were Thursday marking the 25th anniversary of the end of the Falklands war with Argentina.
Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister at the time, were to participate in commemorations marking the end of the conflict over the windswept South Atlantic islands.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who steps down on June 27, was also to attend.
British soldiers entered the Falklands' capital Stanley on June 14, 1982, ending the 74-day occupation and a conflict which killed 649 Argentine and 255 British service personnel and three islanders.
The queen, Thatcher and Blair were to join veterans and bereaved families in a service at the Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel in the grounds of Pangbourne College near Reading, west of London.
On the islands themselves, a special radio message from the queen will be broadcast to the 3,000-odd inhabitants.
Prince Edward, the queen's youngest son, will join Britain's Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram, Lord Cecil Parkinson, representing Thatcher's war cabinet, and 1982 Falklands governor Sir Rex Hunt for a thanksgiving service in Stanley and a parade to the Liberation Monument.
At Pangbourne, a military fly-past will salute the queen.
Sara Jones, widow of Lieutenant Colonel "H" Jones, who was awarded an posthumous Victoria Cross for valour at the battle for Goose Green, a remote sheep farm and key Argentine stronghold, was to give a reading.
Following a Scottish tradition, the queen was to add a final stone to a cairn made up of stones from key battle sites, representing the fallen soldiers.
In Greenwich, southeast London, the queen's daughter Princess Anne was to attend a service of remembrance and commemoration followed by a "heroes dinner" for those decorated for their part in the conflict.
The Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, is moored in the River Thames off Greenwich as part of the Falklands events.
Thatcher was also to attend a Falkland Islands government reception in central London along with Edward's wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
Sukey Cameron, the Falklands government's representative in London, was to say that the islanders' gratitude to British forces is "undiminished."
"We can never forget what they did," she was to say. "As we celebrate our liberation, let us strive anew to match their sacrifice with our resolve to preserve what they fought for."
She added: "As we consider the future, we rejoice in our identity as Falkland Islanders, and the self-confidence that our progress over 25 years has brought."
On Sunday, a showpiece event in London will consist of a march of veterans and their modern-day service counterparts in London along The Mall, the processional route that leads to Buckingham Palace.
There will also be a fly-past of Falklands-era aircraft as well as a live link-up with the Falklands, enabling islanders and veterans to recount the events in their own words.