A Day in the Life Blesma Member: James O'Connell

I served in 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in the Falklands Conflict.

During the Battle of Mount Longdon, the main attack came from the west, but my company was located to the north in the direct line of Argentine fire. All their guns were facing our location so our area was swept with machine gun fire and pounded with artillery.

The battalion took many casualties: 23 dead and 48 wounded. I was clipped in the face by a bullet. I lost my right eye and cheekbone, the centre of my nose and my front teeth.

Thanks to the expertise of surgeons over a five-year period, my cheekbone was replaced with bone from my hip, and I received a plastic centre to my nose, an artificial eye, and new front teeth.

I left the Army in 1984, got married, had two sons, and created a new life as a taxi driver before going on to own a small taxi business.

In 2010, I decided to write an account of the battle which I called Three Days In June. I travelled around the country interviewing 50-or-so of my old colleagues, several of whom were, by then, Major Generals.

I signed with a publisher and all was looking good, but in 2012, as I neared the end of my book, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. I was diagnosed on the Monday and had a kidney removed on the Wednesday. Fortunately, the cancer hadn’t spread, but as soon as my left kidney was removed my right kidney began to fail.

The publisher refused the book as I’d missed my deadline, and for the next four years I was on dialysis for six hours every other day. Publishing my book was no longer my focus as I just wanted to be alive for my wife and two sons.

In 2017, I was fortunate to receive a donor kidney from a young man who’d died in a motorcycle accident. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude to this young man or his family, but it has given me a new life.

During lockdown, I was contacted out of the blue by a publisher who wanted to publish my book. I’m delighted. It finally gives recognition to all the unsung heroes who were there, and to the many acts of bravery that went unseen and unrewarded, such as my colleagues who carried me through a minefield whilst under fire, and Corporal Stewart McLaughlin who
was outstanding on the night but was killed near the end of the battle.

We also mustn’t forget the ten 17-year-old soldiers and 42 18-year-old soldiers who took part in the battle. Three of the 17 year olds were killed, and another soldier died on his 18th birthday. It’s quite chilling when you look back on it, which is why I hope my book will give a better understanding of the battle.

Three Days In June is due to be published in hardback in June 2021 and in paperback the following year.