FALKLANDS WAR

The outstanding Northern Ireland and South Atlantic Campaign pair to Private K.P.J.'Luke' Lukowiak, Support Company, 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, a veteran of the battles of Goose Green and Wireless Ridge. An accomplished writer, his experiences in the Falklands formed the basis of his critically acclaimed memoir, A Soldier’s Song - True Stories from the Falklands, of which John Le Carré’s review said, ‘Next time you hear a child sing Rule Britannia, read him this’ . (Dix Noonan Webb)

(Grey Funnel Collection)

In 1982 Private Ken Lukowiak served with 2 Para in the Falklands. He was away from home for little more than eight weeks, yet the experience of war was to change his life for ever. Ten years passed before he was able to write about this brief period in his life. In those ten years he was brought face to face with the legacy of his Parachute Regiment training and with the knowledge that he had seen many men die - some of whom he himself had killed. From the voyage 'down South' on the MV Norland, from Goose Green to Fitzroy and the anti-climactic journey home Lukowiak illustrates the madness and black comedy of the soldier's world.