Dartmouth Museum Trustee & Chairman David Lingard is a veteran of the Falklands War, thrust into the action at short notice - and his stories of his experiences are as surprising as they are revealing.
David Lingard, 69, has been messing about in boats since he was a young lad – and joined the Navy because he wanted to travel the world in days when it was less easy than now. His mother did not go abroad until her silver wedding anniversary, though his father had been in the RAF during the Second World War. The rare stories about his time in the Far East and India whetted the young David’s appetite for adventure abroad.
David Lingard
David Lingard
He found it when he first went to sea. He spent it, he says, having a ‘magnificent time’.‘We travelled the Mediterranean and then went round South America in the Cruiser HMS Lion,’ he said. ‘This was real ‘Old School’ Naval times. We were encouraged to spend time in the places we visited, sampling and getting to know the culture and we took full advantage. For example, we spent a week in Tripoli and I loved finding out about the other places we visited.
‘I paid a penance for it afterwards though – spending six months in a small, hard worked frigate in Portland!’
David moved up in the world, gaining experience and expertise as a sailor. He then started training as a Weapons Engineer at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Manadon, Plymouth.
He became an expert in certain weapons technology, such as the now obsolete ‘Analogue’ electrical control systems of weapons guidance. They combined the finest mechanical and electrical know-how of the day in ingenious ways much of which has now been left behind by digital technology.
Several amazing postings over a few years – in Singapore, Canada and others – preceded David and his wife Carol’s move to Dartmouth as part of the Britannia Royal Naval College staff in 1977.
They bought a house and settled in with one and later two sons, Robert and Christopher – David and Carol still live in the house to this day.
But life in the Navy is rarely settled and David moved on to other postings.
At the outbreak of the Falklands he was in Portsmouth overseeing the upgrading and trials of the digital Operations Room and weapons control systems in the Amazon class Frigates.
Although David had been selected for promotion to Commander he was still surprised when he got a call in the middle of a very busy day.
‘I had been undergoing refresher training in fire fighting at sea,’ he told me. ‘I was in overalls and covered in half-burnt diesel fuel and got called to the phone. The Captain of the 4th Frigate squadron in the Falklands, Hugo White, had decided that he wanted me to relieve his Squadron Weapons Engineer. More than that, he wanted me there soon. “Captain White wants you to go South” Fleet HQ in Northwood told me. “When?” I asked. “Tomorrow?” was their reply!
‘I asked for 48 hours grace to get everything in order. Captain White had also said I would be promoted instantly to Commander, two months earlier than I expected, so another job I had to accomplish was getting the seamstress at BRNC to add some stripes to my uniform!’
David jumped on a plane which flew to Ascension Island in the Atlantic and then travelled in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Engadine which took him to the Falklands.
He then tried to land on his ship, HMS Avenger at the time in San Carlos Water, by helicopter, during an air raid.
‘We waited out the air raid in another vessel and then joined Avenger later. It certainly brings home to you the fact that you are in a war. Waiting for an attack is strange. For example, when at Action Stations with a Repair Party everyone is sitting on the deck and chatting away - perhaps rather nervously but all the while you know an attack could come at any moment.’
Of the war itself, David takes a pragmatic view: ‘The war was a sharp learning curve for all of us: you are never ready for war. My squadron lost two ships, but I didn’t lose any personal friends. It was dangerous but I only remember the strange and the funny details – the bad stuff quickly fades from the memory.’
David found himself involved in the events at the end of the war – and his memories show some of the madness a conflict can create.
‘Over night on June 14 the ship went to Fox Bay in West Falkland to help arrange for a number of prisoners to be repatriated,’ he said. ‘And I also had to arrange for the collection of an Argentinean battlefield radar to go to Stanley by helicopter. We got to the arms dump and found the Argentinians had a lot of blank ammunition, because they were new recruits. Their commanders had brought them to the Falklands for initial training during a war! Their commander was invited onboard the ship for breakfast by our Captain and I escorted him. It was only when we got to the Captain’s cabin that the Captain’s Leading Steward asked him to hang up his revolver!
‘Whilst I was ashore on the way to the arms dump with an Argentine Army Major, he stopped the jeep we were in to tear a strip off a recruit who was walking with slumped shoulders and looking very untidy!’
The war was short for David, but he did his duty, did his job to his own exemplary standards and he helped, along with every other member of Service personnel, to win the war for Britain.
First published October 2011 By the Dart