Simon Weston ' Falklands Conflict ' Signed Cards Autograph £10.00

This is an In Person signed white card 5.5" x 4" by the British Army soldier.

Simon Weston OBE (born 8 August 1961) is a former British Army soldier who became well known throughout the United Kingdom for his recovery and charity work after suffering severe burn injuries during the Falklands War. Weston was born in Caerphilly District Miners Hospital. He was brought up by his mother, Pauline and adoptive father, 'Lofty'. His biological father served in the Royal Air Force alongside his mother. Weston lived in Singapore and Nocton Hall in Lincoln before returning to Nelson at the age of around six or seven. He has one older sister and three stepbrothers. He joined the Welsh Guards in 1978 at the age of 16 at the insistence of his mother, after he "got into bother". He served in Berlin, Northern Ireland and Kenya before being deployed to the Falkland Islands. On 8 June 1982, he was with other members of his regiment on RFA Sir Galahad in Bluff Cove, just off the Falkland Islands, when it was bombed and set on fire by enemy Skyhawk fighters. The ship was carrying ammunition including phosphoric bombs and thousands of gallons of diesel and petrol. Twenty-two out of his platoon of thirty men were killed; all together the Welsh Guards lost forty-eight men and ninety-seven were injured. Weston survived with 46% burns, following which his face was barely recognisable: My first encounter with a really low point was when they wheeled me into the transit hospital at RAF Lyneham and I passed my mother in the corridor and she said to my gran, "Oh mam, look at that poor boy" and I cried out "Mam, it's me!" And as she recognised my voice her face turned to stone.  Weston endured years of reconstructive surgery, including over 70 major operations or surgical procedures. Skin from his shoulders was used to make eyelids. Skin from his buttocks was used to form a new nose. He suffered psychological trauma, drinking heavily and becoming suicidal, and admits his behaviour during this time was "terrible". He credits his mother with helping him to overcome this. In particular, her act of reuniting him with his old regiment, who refused to mollycoddle him (especially Glen White, who ran the Welsh Guards rugby side), forced him to "face up to the unavoidable and to be positive about everything including especially my future".