THE NOTTINGHAM-MALVINAS GROUP AT THE
44th INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
Between
April 26 and May 14, 2018, the 44th International Book Fair of Buenos Aires was
held at La Rural Fairground. On May 8 (Day of the Virgin of Lujan) the
book The Nottingham-Malvinas Group : The
first 10 years was presented.
The introductory words were delivered by Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Augusto Keller, Chief of Plans and Communications Division of the Argentine Army´s General Secretary who said:
Today it is an honor to have among us the presence of Mr. Horacio Calderón, outstanding writer and International Analyst, and Dr. Eduardo Gerding, author of the book.
It´s been 36 years since the end of the South Atlantic War where a
generation of Argentines fought with courage for a national integration.
This afternoon we are going to present the book The Nottingham-Malvinas
Group. This book, edited by the Círculo Militar provides a detailed
analysis not only of some battles fought in the Malvinian peatbut also of
different approaches to deal with the war veterans´aftermath . I am going to
leave the word now to Colonel Urricariet , Director of the Military Printing
House.
44th
International Book Fair of Buenos Aires La Rural Fairground- Argentine Army
stand.
Lieutenant
Colonel Miguel Augusto Keller and Colonel Alejandro
Urricariet
Colonel Urricariet said: The book that we are going to present and[
] I am going to make an extreme synthesis- is a very important treatise of
ten chapters that includes ten years of work of this group. It describes the
main pathologies observed in the Argentine and British war veterans previously published by the author in
different journals among them the
International Review of the Armed Forces Medical Services (Hôpital Militaire
Reine Astrid, of Brussels-Belgium).
In 2006, Dr.Gerding founded the Nottingham-Malvinas Group on his
return from his lecture in Willoughby Hall (University of Nottingham) where war
veterans from both countries met. The concurrence of the author to the Stress
Center of the United Kingdom offers us an even wider panorama of how these
pathologies are faced. Dr. Gerding
closes with a chapter dedicated to soldiers reconciliation
The presentation of
the book was in charge of Mr. Horacio Calderón, Expert in Middle East and North
Africa Affairs ,Counter Terrorism Specialist and collaborator of CNN in Spanish.
During the Malvinas Conflict he was appointed by the Commander in Chief of the Argentine
Navy for the fulfillment of an important series of secret intelligence missions
and procurement of material support.
Mr. Calderón said: "Well, first of
all, I want to thank the Argentine Army, through its General Secretariat, for
having nominated me for the presentation of this excellent book called the
Nottingham-Malvinas Group. Also thank the Editorial 1884 of the Military Circle
and my friend of many years Alejandra Buceta who is a true expert in everything
concerned with editing. At her request I won´t say how long we’ve known each
other.
I would especially like to thank Colonel
Urricariet for his introduction and of course to this evening´s star Dr.
Gerding for letting me introduce this wonderful book. We really do not finish
learning new things about the Malvinas war.
I also want to highlight two presences:
one from a friend whom I presume has been suffering me for about 60 years :
Marine Corps Captain Miguel Pita a dear friend who was also Deputy Chief of
Staff during the disembarkation in our islands.
Another dear friend: Captain Juan
Membrana with whom we shared meetings talking about what one can do (or allowed
to do)in our country, regarding the national defense and our Armed Forces. Our Armed Forces are the first and I think the
last line of defense in what has been left of national integrity.
Regarding this book, the first thing I
have to mention is its cover. Someone said: ¨Horacio, how are you going to
present here a book whose cover shows a hand with the Union Jack shaking hand an
Argentine flag? ¨
My answer was that, over the course of
time, those who have somehow been involved in this conflict feel more connected
to each other, than to the political leaders of their respective countries.I
feel empathy for this. After the conflict, I felt much more honored shaking hands
with an enemy leader than shaking hands with those who received our military as
if they were ghosts hiding them from the public. Nothing was known about these
combatants for a very long time.
I have great empathy for Dr. Gerding
for whom, because he is a medical doctor who has been Head of the
Gastroenterology Department at the Buenos Aires Naval Hospital. He had nearly the same functions than my
father who was a Navy doctor and served in the old Naval Hospital. At the Naval
Hospital my sisters were born, my grandfather died and I was submitted to
surgery five times once as the result of
a gunshot wound. So I feel a special connection which started when reading this
excellent book.
This book has several story lines. Many
of them sincerely unknown to me. Somehow those of us who have not participated in the
war, as is my case, but abroad in matters of intelligence, we never got to know
the details of what happened. One of the themes that Dr. Gerding raises is precisely the physical
and psychological war traumas.
Not only the traumas when we have an
ongoing war but also what happens when it ends; the traumatic effects. (If I
make a technical error, please tell me, Dr.). There are so many elements that surprise
is a constant feature.
In Argentina we do not know with
certainty how many soldiers lost their lives and how many others committed suicide as a result of war. About
254 British died during the war but those
who committed suicide are probably more
than those KIA.
This is one of the most interesting
points addressed byDr. Gerding´s
excellent book. It even brings unknown statistics and up to date information
we previously ignored. It also depicts Argentine and British protagonists on
whom Dr Gerding focuses. One may perhaps
know the name of the Gurkhas´commander or be unaware that a unit was named after
Prince Philip of Edinburgh. In short there are so many details. In this book we
access testimonies of Argentine high and
medium rank officers who took part in the conflict.
Another interesting question that Dr. Gerding
addresses is how the combatants were
treated from the medical point of view in Argentina and Great Britain. I was
surprised by the certainty with which he addresses methodologically and accurate
each of its aspects. He equates for example the Argentine PAMI ( we are familiar
with its story …) with what would be the
NHS (the British PAMI). One would think: we should imitate the British PAMI to improve our
services in Argentina. Not quite. A post-war patient in Britain had to wait a
year or more to consult a specialist. Note that here in Argentina, thanks to
Dr. Gerding who had a very high role in the PAMI, (I think he still has it; he may
be retired, but I know that he is constantly consulted) things have improved.
Another issue for example is what
happened to the British military? What do we know about their lives? . We´ll
find very interesting things. I won´t keep talking otherwise you won´t buy the
book and Dr. Gerding will bill me and the Publisher.
I was really surprised by the fact that
the Argentine soldiers in the Army, the Navy and Air Force and those who fought in another
type of discipline as well as me have been ignored . Well, what about the
British? Well, they've been a lot worse than us. When I speak of us I mean those
soldiers who even today are incapacitated and are not receiving proper assistance. Well, in Britain
it has been worse.
These are things to be improved.Being a
hypochondriac as a good doctor´s son , I
was very interested in Dr. Gerding's
academic exposition of how to avoid, for example, in any future war (which
hopefully we won´t have to fight ), the infamous trench foot and the issue of inadequate clothing. We are
talking about booties, stockings and everything that means to protect the
combat capacity of the soldiers. A frozen soldier is a soldier who cannot
fight.
Dr. Gerding recounts previous wars,
world wars and the Russian front, where many of the casualties were due to the
freezing feet in the trenches.
Dr. Gerding also talks about
reconciliation.
"I read this book in 4 or 5 days
because I was riveted. Some historical details of Malvinas are not known .The
people who have been involved in the war- as could be the case of Captain Pita
and others with whom I have been able to talk- are reluctant to remember those tragic
moments that Argentina endured.
I am proud to be an Argentine and I am proud of those who fought for the
Argentine Nation for these islands. I can criticize the strategy that did
not exist and the lack of joint action but one has to acknowledge the sacrifice of our soldiers and those who,
being alive, remain with little assistance from the authorities. . So, Dr.
Gerding, I look forward to your presentation.
From left to right:
Mr. Horacio Calderón Expert in Middle East and North Africa Affairs , Counter
Terrorism Specialist and collaborator of CNN in Spanish and Dr. Eduardo
Gerding.
The author at the
beginning of his lecture paid homage to two very dear people who died during
the year : Marine Corps Captain Carlos Alberto Bouvet (Director of the Azopardo
Naval Arsenal in 1982) and almost a brother: Engineer Juan Esteban Roach
Fitzpatrick. He also emphasized that this book could be published thanks to the
support and enthusiasm offered from the beginning by Colonel Urricariet and
Mrs. Alejandra Buceta, both from Editorial
1884 (a 134-year-old publishing house).
In the first row of
the large and young audience was Marine Corps Captain (Ret)and war veteran
Miguel Carlos Augusto Pita. Captain Pita attended the Amphibious War College
with the US Marines. He finished his stay in the Operations Area of the 2nd division at Camp Lejeune in
North Carolina. In 1982 he served as Commander of the Marine Infantry Brigade
No. 1. His final Marine Corps
position was at the Intelligence
Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Naval aviator Captain
(Ret)and war veteran Juan José Membrana was also present. The latter carried
out 11 missions between March 28 and June 14, 1982 half from the aircraft
carrier ARA 25 de Mayo and the other half from Río Gallegos, with the aircraft
Grumman S-2E Tracker. He was also Aircraft Commander and signalman carrier.
The first slide of
the author's PowerPoint was the image of Professor Bernard McGuirk and his book
Malvinas-Falklands: An Unfinished
Business.
The last was theDuke
of Wellington´s (1769-1862) historical
words: Believe me, nothing except a
battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
