Never forgotten: The Falklands War resonates today - The Yorkshire Post Says

The commemorations in Sheffield of the first British warship sunk in combat since the Second World War were not only a tribute to the 20 crew who were killed and the 26 injured when she was struck by an Exocet missile on May 4 1982.

They also remembered all the victims of a vicious conflict fought 8,000 miles from Britain. The unveiling of a memorial to HMS Sheffield on Wednesday at the National Memorial Arboretum, in Staffordshire, will undoubtedly be another moment of solemn remembrance.

Ten days afterwards, the Arboretum will host the official national memorial service for the Falklands War, organised by the Royal British Legion.

Forty years on, the conflict in the South Atlantic resonates powerfully for our own times, and not only because of the bravery and sacrifice of those fighting on land, sea and air, who must never be forgotten.

The war was about standing up to aggression, refusing to accept the illegal seizure of territory and the denial of a population’s democratic right to live in freedom and elect a government of its own choosing.

Today, the people of Ukraine are fighting against an aggressor for exactly those same freedoms, willed on and aided by countries who value democracy, not least Britain. As we remember HMS Sheffield and all those who served in the Falklands, we think of Ukraine too.