Argentine Military Cemetery
| The Argentine Military Cemetery on East Falkland | |
|---|---|
| Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) | |
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| For Argentine forces | |
| Established | 1983 |
| Location |
51°47′49″S 58°56′26″W / 51.79694°S 58.94056°W East Falkland near Darwin Settlement |
| Total burials | 237 |
| Unknown burials | 123 |
|
Total commemorated
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412 |
| Burials by nation | |
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| Burials by war | |
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The Argentine Military Cemetery, Spanish: Cementerio de Darwin (Darwin Cemetery), is a military cemetery on East Falkland that holds the remains of 237 Argentine combatants killed during the 1982 Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas). It is located west of the Darwin Settlement close to the location of the Battle of Goose Green.
In December 1982 the British government commissioned a firm of civilian undertakers to consolidate all of the temporary Argentine graves on the Islands to a single location. Assisted by the armed forces, they identified each Argentine grave site and brought the bodies to Port Darwin. At the time this was the largest single Argentine grave site, with the bodies of the 47 Argentine soldiers, killed at the Battle of Goose Green and buried there soon after the battle.
Many of the bodies collected were without dog-tags, so best efforts were made to identify each soldier from personal effects found on the body. Single items were not considered conclusive, but collections were. All were given a Christian burial with full military honours. Each grave is marked by a white wooden cross with the name of the soldier on it if known, but 123 of the crosses simply state Soldado Argentino Solo Conocido Por Dios ("Argentine Soldier Known Only By God").
There is also a common grave containing the 5 crewman of a T-24 Learjet, belonging to Fenix Squadron shot down by a surface-air missile from HMS Exeter, over Borbon Island on June 7. This grave contains the remains of airman: Comodoro Rodolfo de la Colina, Vicecomodoro Juan Jose Ramon Falconier, Major Marcelo Lotufo, Subof Pr Francisco Tomas Luna and Subof Ay Guido Antonio Marizza.
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Wikipedia