How the Glasgow Times covered Falklands invasion - and the Clydebank radio ham who heard it first

The Scottish amateur radio enthusiast revealed to our newspaper the astonishing story of how he recorded the first moments of the invasion, passed on the message to the MoD, who in turn sent it to then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“I sat beside 47-year-old Les on the stair landing of his Dunbartonshire cottage as he listened again to the only messages to reach these shores from the Falklands outside Whitehall,” said our reporter.

“The printer, who spends hours of his time communicating across the globe as a “radio ham” has been in touch with a Falkland islander for 10 years.

“Mr Hamilton, who lives in Hardgate, said: ‘I never thought I’d be listening to such dramatic news as I did last night. I can’t reveal his name as I don’t want to land him in any trouble with the authorities who seem to be in charge there now.”

The taped messages that stretched across the 7000 miles of airwaves to Mr Hamilton’s home were at times “scrambled with atmospheric interference,” we reported.

“But they contained these words from his Falkland contact: ‘There are a large number of warships in the harbour. I have seen many aircraft on the landing strip here. There are thousands of troops, they’re in armoured vehicles.”

Mr Hamilton told the newspaper he planned to try again later that evening.

The Falklands War began on April 2, 1982, when 130 Argentinian commandos landed on the islands in the South Atlantic, around 7000 miles from Britain.

They overwhelmed the small British military force there, paving the way for a full infantry landing.

At home, Britain woke up to the news. Our front page announced: “Task Force Set to Sail.”

Many Glaswegians, in common with much of the British population, had never even heard of the Falklands. Over the next 10 weeks, they watched as the conflicted unfolded, watching the nightly TV news and reading about it in their newspapers.

A Herald report many years later reflected: “The war yielded many poignant images, such as that of a wounded survivor of HMS Sheffield being helped by medics on to HMS Hermes. Twenty people died when the destroyer was attacked by an Argentinian Exocet missile. Images like this one, and the exploding HMS Antelope, caused much upset in Britain – but we took more heart from photos of British troops preparing to retake the islands.”

When Norman ‘Mac’ McDade and his fellow seamen on the HMS Plymouth were given orders to head to the Falklands, they had no idea what awaited them.

“I thought the Falklands were in the Hebrides, we all did,” says the Royal Navy veteran, who grew up in Paisley. “To be honest we didn’t really appreciate how serious was going to get. When we were asked to write our wills it was a bit of a shock.”

READ MORE: Remembering the Glasgow teacher who was part of famous 'Great Escape'

Mac is a fundraiser for Erskine Veterans Charity. A talented artist, his work – including Falklands paintings – is being displayed in the charity’s annual Art of Erskine exhibition. He and fellow Falklands veteran Scots Guard Bill McDowall will be attending the unveiling of Scotland’s first Falklands memorial on June 9 in Erskine Veterans Village.

“I never imagined at 20 years of age I would be firing a gun, never mind live rounds at fighter jets in war time,” he said. “We were in real danger on many occasions, and I’m not sure we realised how lucky we were to come out of it alive. I witnessed things I’d never want anyone else to see, but we all did our job and that’s all you can ask of anyone.”

He adds: “In that conflict, every single serviceman played their part. In the end it resulted in a victory for the United Kingdom and its Armed Forces, but sometimes I ask myself - at what cost?”