The exchange of a helmet and a gesture of peace in the Falklands – Together

Hector Pereyra was a nurse during the Falklands War and during the Battle of Mount Harriet he was seriously wounded and taken prisoner by the British.

In this situation, he is stripped of his helmet and is entrusted to the English navy Andy Damstag who, nearly four decades later, contacts him to restore this precious element.

"Hello Héctor, I'm calling Andy when I was a young royal navy. I met you with your friend at the Battle of Mount Harriet in the Falklands. If you remember, we exchanged helmets (because I wanted to remember our meeting) when they came to take off in the mountains, you made my helmet, I would now return your helmet. One of my friends said that these items are valuable to collectors, but I lent them to you thirty-seven years ago. So now, I want you to get it back, "Damstag wrote to Pereyra.

In dialogue with Chain 3 Argentina said that "it is a very rich history" that brings both "a lot of sadness and pain and which, despite the years, remains very latent in us".

"I close my eyes and I remember every second of what I've experienced," he said. "When the grenade fell into position, Corporal Carlos López, wounded, and I was in the same trench, he dragged me outside to try to protect me behind the stones until I They are taking us prisoners. "The fight continues, we see the English and the companies go by until they realize that we are alive and that one of them was more hurt than another. "

"They control us to prevent anything that could hurt them, they undress us, they open the jacket, they take out our weapon, our helmet and all the elements likely to damage them.We were left without protection and the helmet was around In this continues the advance of the English and leaves two guards with these prisoners out of the fight, "he added.

When he is taken prisoner, Pereyra is cured of his wounds, cuts off the bleeding that he had at that time and left with two guards, including Andy.

"Andy with placards and protecting us from the bombings in the area, we talked to each other, he made me count my fingers on my age and when I said" 18 ", he m". said that he was a "baby." I remember we had, "he said.

"At that time, we were spectators of the match and we talked about football, he said" brave Ardiles, Tottenham, "he said.

But in the middle of this scene, Pereyra was not protected. "It started to snow and the bombing reached the battlefield and he (Andy) when I see that I have nothing, drag me a little more and put on a big rock and see me without a helmet takes his own backpack and I said, "he recalled.

Andy with Hector's helmet

In this battle, there were 7 dead Marines and 33 wounded Englishmen. While the Argentines made 18 dead, 50 wounded and 300 prisoners including Pereyra.

However, Argentina stressed the protection, the attention and the care that it received from the English who were its enemies at that time and, after the evacuation of the island, it was able to return with his family.

On October 18, Héctor Pereyra will regain his helmet after Andy Damstag brought him to the Argentine Embassy in London and said goodbye to the object with a kiss, gesture that surprised Ambassador Carlos Sersale and the staff present.

"He did not come down because he had to keep fighting and that's why I gave him back the helmet when they lowered us to the regiment.They lowered me on a stretcher in order to continue to look after me and I did not think about it any more, and I could not remember it anymore, the face of this English soldier, but only when they go down, I give him the helmet, he shakes my hand and says "Ok" and everyone has continued his life, "Pereyra concluded.

"Everything is removed, it is an act that, after a war in peace, can exist," he said.

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