Falklands War memorial unveiled in Staffordshire for 30th anniversaryReported by Metro.co.uk on Sunday, 20 May 2012 (on May 20, 2012)
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*A memorial to the 255 British servicemen who died in the Falklands War has been unveiled in Staffordshire.*
Wreaths left at the new memorial commemorating the British servicemen who died in the Falklands War (Picture: PA)
Around 600 veterans and their families attended a dedication service at the National Memorial Arboretum, 30 years after a British taskforce landed on the disputed South Atlantic islands.
A flypast was also conducted by the last airworthy Vulcan, which served during the war in which more than 650 Argentinean troops died.
The memorial, built to honour the UK taskforce, is designed to reflect the rugged landscape of the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, and echoes a commemorative wall in San Carlos cemetery.
Last month, services were held in both countries marking the 30th anniversary of the war amid new tensions between London and Buenos Aires.
The government of president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has reasserted its claim to the islands and accused the UK of militarising the dispute with the deployment of a new Royal Navy warship and the Duke of Cambridge as a search and rescue pilot.
UK prime minister David Cameron responded by turning accusations of colonialism back against Argentina, insisting Britain would defend islanders' rights for self-determination.
The UK has controlled the Falklands since 1833 but Argentina claims it inherited the islands, about 290 miles off its coast, from Spain.
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