Fifteen years on and the nightmares continue to torment Dave Coomber, who was a young naval airman on the Portsmouth-based assault ship HMS Intrepid.

He is still haunted by the sight of survivors from the bombed Sir Galahad, being brought on board with appalling injuries after the attack on June 8, 1982.

The catastrophe at Fitzroy, which left the inside of the landing ship blazing like an inferno, killed 48 men, and was recalled as one of the grimmest days of the war.

`We were taking survivors through on stretchers and helping them off helicopters. I can remember I sat on the edge of the flight deck and just cried - it is something I will never forget.

`I was asking ``why are we here?'' and ``why are we doing this?'', and someone came along and put a can of beer in my hand.'

Dave, who joined the Royal Navy straight from school, was just 19 at the time, and remembers the almost gung-ho atmosphere on the way down to the South Atlantic. `As young lads we just wanted to go in and hoped that the action wouldn't be over before we got there,' he said.

'We were serious in our attitude, but our mood was light-hearted. But when we heard that HMS Sheffield had been hit, the mood changed, and we knuckled right down then.'

Dave, who lives at Winstanley Road, Stamshaw, was involved in Intrepid's perilous journey of taking the Scots Guards from San Carlos to Lively Island, near the mouth of Choiseul Sound, where, in rapidly deteriorating weather, they journeyed to Bluff Cove in four landing craft.

His worst memory of the Falklands War was the bombing of the Sir Galahad, but he also recalled the fear of feeling marooned in `Bomb Alley', being mortared on his one and only night ashore, and the seemingly endless flight deck duties.

`We didn't call the days by their names - we called every day Monday,' said Dave. `Days ceased to mean anything to us until we knew the date we were going home.'

And once the euphoria of the homecoming had died down, Dave admitted that he was withdrawn and wanted to be alone.

`I was only 19 and I've been through things that I had never experienced in my life - I still have nightmares sometimes,' he added.

Dave Coomber left the Royal Navy in July 1989. He now works as a bus driver for the Provincial Bus Company Limited. He is married to Janice, an ex-wren, and the couple have a two-year-old daughter Leah.

Winning rights

The Falklands War scuppered young Dave Coomber's plans for an Italian summer holiday in July 1982 - and he had another battle on his hands to get his money refunded.

`When I realised we weren't going to be back in time to go, I advised my then fiancee to cancel the holiday. The company pointed out that we weren't entitled to be reimbursed, and said it was not officially a war as war hadn't actually been declared - they said it was in the small print,' said Dave.

However, on his return to England Dave stormed the offices and after ensuing media publicity, the firm surrendered the £400 owing.

Memories
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