MT:
Hermes was the flagship of the entire operation and I felt it right to come down and greet her and say what a marvellous job she has done and how very proud we are of her, and every single person aboard. She did a fantastic job, you know. She took, um, … the people from Sheffield on board, I have been to have a look at the hospital quarters, everything was planned on this ship. So of course I came.Brian Hanrahan:
Now you’ve had a chance to have a look around …MT:
… I'm even more thrilled than ever. Each and every person I've talked to – and I've been on here for just of an hour, an hour and a quarter – is really very honoured and very pleased to have had some part in this, the Falklands story. I hope it is unique in our experience. And I've just being saying to them “Look, please write down your own experiences”, not only for what they did for our country, but for what they did for each of the families. Because they will have started a tradition for each of their families and I think future generations will want to know that someone of their relatives or ancestors took part in this. They are the most wonderful crowd of people I have met for a very long time. And the maintenance of all the aircraft was so fantastically done. They broke all records in military campaigns.Hanrahan:
If you did have any regrets …MT:
… I have no regrets. I have no regrets. We had to send that Task Force. We had to regain those islands for our people. Regrets? It is a chapter of pride for our country.