A SPECIAL service in memory of Keith McCarthy from Beckington who died in the Falklands conflict is to be held this month.
The service in St George’s Church in the village will be at 10.00 a.m. on Sunday 12th June and will include an act of commemoration. All are welcome to attend. This is a new time to the one originally planned.
“Keith McCarthy is buried in the churchyard of St George’s Church in Beckington,” says the Beckton Royal British Legion. “As a boy in the village, he attended Frome Grammar School and later served in the third battalion of the Parachute Regiment. He was married in Aldershot on 15th March 1982 and went into action on 2nd April that year. He died on 12th June in the closing stages of the conflict.
“This year we mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands Campaign. On 2nd April 1982, Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands. On 5th April the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine forces before making an amphibious assault on the islands.
“The conflict lasted for 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland islanders died during the hostilities.”
