"I Am Safe": How Two Amateur Radio Enthusiasts Secretly Passed Messages During the Falklands War

To acknowledge and celebrate the end of the Falklands war on 14 June 1982, we are publishing this story about the unlikely friendship of two amateur radio enthusiasts 8,000 miles apart that allowed more than 50 soldiers the opportunity to get messages home to their loved ones.

Disclaimer:  This story was originally brought to light by bfbs Forces News on 7 December 2022. Certain linguistic changes have been made in the subsequent article from Cambridge Management Consulting, but all of the information comes from the original article, written by Hannah King Ros Moore, which you can read here, and an accompanying video on their YouTube page, which we encourage you to watch.

Between April and June 1982, Argentina and the United Kingdom engaged in a 10-week conflict which would come to be known as the Falklands War. Battling over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the conflict began with the invasion of the former by Argentina on 2 April, and ended with their ultimate surrender on 14 June – Falklands Liberation Day.

During this time, more than 100 villagers were being held captive in a hall by the Argentinians for almost seven weeks, before being free on 29 May by 2 PARA, following a battle to take Goose Green. Eighteen British soldiers were sadly lost during this fight, but back at home their families had heard nothing since the soldiers set sail.

That was until the unlikely friendship of two amateur radio enthusiasts 8,000 miles apart allowed more than 50 soldiers the opportunity to get messages home to their loved ones.

Bob McLeod, a ham radio operator, had already made history by making the announcement to the world that the Falkland Islands had been invaded. However, in doing so, he had also drawn the attention of the Argentinians, who were quick to confiscate his equipment.

Alan Bullock was the Forward Observation Officer of D Company, 2 PARA, and, while walking through the main street of Goose Green, spotted an antenna on a house belonging to Bob.

Alan knocked on Bob’s door, “Hello… is there any chance you are a radio amateur?”

“Yes… But the Argentinians took my transmitter and smashed it up.”

Bob’s wife then suggested that they use his 50W amplifier that was safely hidden under the stairs.

As Forward Observation Officer, Alan had his state-of-the-art at the time, military clansman radio, which, although only 20 watts for communicating over short distances, could be combined.

In order to get messages back to the UK, Bob made contact with John Wright, a radio amateur in Oxford with whom he had been chatting to over the airwaves for many years. Together, Bob and John devised a cryptic code for their conversation and each transmitted on different frequencies, in case anyone was listening. 

John would be given a soldier’s phone number and short messages to pass on to his family. 

John said of the plan: “Normally amateur radio enthusiasts talk about their radio equipment, experiments they’re doing.

“In this case, the communication was to pass family traffic which, under normal circumstances, isn’t allowed, but I threw caution to the wind and did what I could as quickly and clandestinely as possible.”

Word quickly got around the troops and soon it wasn’t just D Company’s families Bob and John were contacting. Before long, there was a queue outside Bob’s door, with each message always the same:

"I am safe."

About BFBS

BFBS is a pioneering military charity with a mission to entertain, inform, connect and champion the UK armed forces, their families and veterans.

Our armed forces do a tough yet invaluable job, often working in extreme conditions – so BFBS believes they deserve our unfailing support. Find out more at: https://about.bfbs.com/

The Positive Impact of Telecommunications

This story, and the combined initiative, intuition, and innovation between Allan Bullock, Bob McLeod and his wife, and John Wright, is testament to the transformative power of technology for forging connection and bringing optimism at times of difficulty, danger, and otherwise disconnect.

This story is particularly inspiring for Cambridge Management Consulting as an organisation currently working hard to enhance the telecommunications and technology infrastructure of the Falkland Islands. For more information about how we are achieving this, you can read about our consultancy work on the Islands here, and the opening of Falklands IT here.