The reunion, after 39 years, of a Malvinas soldier and two twins who had written him a letter for the war

Thirty-more years later, the Falklands War continues to stir up stories. There are tragedies but also joys, like the meeting that Rubén Mendoza and Gladis Taborda have just had.

With Argentina and the United Kingdom plunged into the war that began after the military landing in the archipelago on April 2, 1982, Gladis and her twin sister, Zulema, they sent a letter to the soldiers destined to the islands. They didn’t know who it would affect. But they were part of the platoon of students who, seeking to support these young people who were on the front lines of the war, sent cookies, chocolates, scarves and letters of affection. Only a few arrived, including that of the Taborda sisters.

This letter from the two young women arrived at the time in the hands of Rubén, a soldier who had to fight during the war. And there were two coincidences: that he was also born in Cordoba and that he wanted to respond to it. This written response from the BIM 5 soldier It appeared a few months ago forgotten in a souvenir drawer in the house of Gladis’ mother.

And that was the kick in trying to find him and find out what was in the life of this man he had come into contact with at the start of the war. The search paid off and thirty-nine years later Gladis and Rubén met. It was last Sunday, in an unprecedented zoom, this platform that marked communication in a pandemic period.

Bugle participated in the meeting between the two. This columnist was invited by the protagonists and whoever joined them to this virtual chat on Sunday. The searcher Alicia Panero, who as if coincidences weren’t enough She had been Gladis’ classmate at the Immaculate Concepción School in Cordoba.

“Nany, darling… while arranging the papers, I found a letter from a Cordovan soldier, who wrote to us from the Falklands !!! My daughter was moved when I read it again… In 1982, we were finishing school, a very sad year in the family. Where is this boy ??? Gladis wrote to Panero on the Facebook wall. It was last year. Panero is very popular on social networks. It turns out that he specialized in investigating war stories.. She is the author of Unknown Soldier, where she delves into the misnamed graves in Darwin’s Cemetery, which are in the process of being identified.

Also written Invisible women, a story of nurses who went to war. “Gladis Taborda, let’s find him. What an emotion, ”she replied to her former high school classmate, whom she had not seen since graduating.

Then the operation began. He first searched the Defense Ministry’s list of ex-combatants who were alive. She wanted to reassure her friend, because the fear was that by looking for the author of the letter, they would discover that he had not returned from the war. He managed to locate a girl in the municipality of Ballesteros, and so he reached the soldier, who was Rubén Mendoza.

Now says Gladis in Clarín. “The letter stayed with my mother among many things we wrote to each other at school.” Her mother’s health deteriorated during her 40s and one day her granddaughter, Gladis’ daughter, put boxes in Grandma and found the letter among her mother’s memories. There were silences, a family reunion to see what they were doing and crying, because The year 82 was hard for the Tabordas: deaths in the family and a war that made the climate darker.

The letter now took on immense emotional value.

Dated May 26, 1982, in the Malvinas Islands, Rubén Mendoza’s text read as follows.

“Dear friends, thank you very much for taking the time to write to me and send the medal.

I’m telling you something about me. I am from Cordoba, I am from Villa María and I know the capital of Cordoba and its surroundings fairly well (the letter contains spelling errors which are not included here).

When I was there I was a truck driver and traveled extensively in the province and neighboring provinces. I crossed the Cerro de las Rosas for a short time before entering the colimba.

I came to stop at Battalion 5 which is located in Río Grande (Tierra del Fuego). For this reason, I do not feel the weather, I am used to the south, the snow and the wind. The island’s climate is better than in Rio Grande. It’s not that cold and there aren’t that many winds.

Thanks again guys, even though the distance at the moment is quite long, God willing, I will go back to Cordoba and I can get to know you and me.

I am 19 years old, my birthday is September 12th. I am 1.75 tall. I’m skinny, a little crazy, as my friends from Rio Grande used to say. Well girls, I don’t write anymore for today. Goodbye Good luck.

Ruben Mendoza. Cordoba and Argentina. And I’m not leaving here “

Rubén is class 62. He was born and raised in the small town of Ballesteros, where he returned after the war. There he lived all his life and devoted himself to agricultural activities.

In 1982, he was doing his military service in Río Grande when the Argentine army decided to take the islands. With their group in BIM 5, they had very little experience. They had done mock night combat and were used to the cold, but not much else. He worked in the BIM 5 workshops, where they did transport and logistics.

“From the battalion, they sent the shooting companies. And it was something of services for the transport of troops on the move. I asked the service officer who was in charge of me to send me to the islands. Well he sent me. We were a few of this section. Transport we went between 10 or 15 people nothing more. Among them, a few second corporals, a few non-commissioned officers. One died there.

-And why did you ask to go? Clarín asked him

Curiosity, providing services, serving the country. At 18, 19, you love everything. It’s like that. There is no fear that scares you at this age.

Rubén said that in the first days of the war he was “very” calm. “It was like the campaigns we had on the continent,” he said.

-When did you realize what war was?

When the fighting started. Because it was no longer a campaign. They threw us away. And that saved who could. From the ground, we had something to defend ourselves, but it was little.

-What was the worst moment that happened?

Perhaps that was the day we retired, when a non-commissioned officer died during the retreat. He was injured and died instantly. Well, we took him, between a partner we took him to town. We don’t leave it there.

Meanwhile, Gladis remembers her “very worried” father. A father who didn’t believe the version of military leadership that claimed to win the war. “We heard from Uruguay and Colombia because he claimed they were lying to us. I did not understand much. Of course, we knew we were in a dictatorship. And all that. And it was terrible, but when we watched TV he told us that they were lying to us. That things were worse than they showed ”.

Gladis apologizes today for being happy that one of her brothers was exempted from military service and therefore was not forced to serve during the war. “It might sound selfish, sorry if I offend someone, but I’m glad I didn’t go to war because we were very, very scared,” he says. One of his cousins ​​had died when he was taken as a colimba to fight guerrillas in Tucumán in the 1970s.

In the zoom of the meeting, which was set up thus due to the impossibility of the protagonists to mobilize in these times of pandemic, Rubén launched: “I remember that we received letters. Several letters have been received. From what Gladis says, I remember scarves and chocolates being received. A small commission. But today, I don’t even remember what his letter would say. I don’t know why I answered that one. Because I will have answered three or four, not much more. And good. One was that one ”.

Finally, Clarín asked Gladis and Rubén what they were going to say to each other now, 39 years after this letter.

“In the first place I want to thank you for taking the trouble for having had that and resurrected it because well this letter could have been thrown away and never heard of again. Nothing but thank you, ”said Gladis excited and looking towards Rubén. “I’m starting to whine. No longer be a crybaby. Glad to have met you, to know that you have returned. It’s not nothing because, as Nany said (the war) was a tragedy. And you look good because a lot didn’t come back or didn’t come back well. And how much you were able to capitalize on what happened to you and you took it as one more experience and you kept moving forward and you weren’t out of place. And that hasn’t happened to many of your classmates. There are a lot of people who have come back and committed suicide. Or it was very bad. I’m glad you were able to continue. I’m happy. I am happy that you are here and that you have returned ”. Gladis then offered the original letter to Rubén. He showed her that it was still folded as it had arrived, “like a small boat” and asked for a copy.

Rubén replied. “So good… I’ll pick her up from your place.” You will give me the address and the phone number by WhatsApp ”.