David Tinker (1) (1957–1982)

This book has been in my library since 1984, when it was published in Germany. I was 14 at the time of the Falkland war and deeply shocked that a European nation would go to war over some windswept little islands in the South Atlantic. 1000 dead soldiers and 25 years later I am not much wiser, but this book with the letters and poems of David Tinker gives a glimpse of how the ordinary soldiers coped with the fact that the governments hadn't been able to sort out this out over diplomatic show more channels. David Tinker had to pay for that with his life, when his ship was hit in the last days of the war.
The book was compiled by his father Hugh, drawing from letters and poems David had written from the moment he learned to write to almost his last minute. It shows a young man reflecting on his chosen occupation and on the impact politics has on it, and it shows an independent thinker. show less

I have only browsed this book so far. I knew Lieutenant David Tinker, a nice young man, for he was on the Junior Supply Officers' Course at HMS Pembroke in 1980 when I was on the senior course - the Supply Charge Course. I went on to serve as Supply Officer of HMS Hydra, a ship that was also a participant in the Falklands War of 1982. I am horrified by the blurb on the book's back cover, which ends "... a unique indictment of the Falklands campaign. His accusations will be remembered as long show more as the was itself is remembered." David Tinker was entitled to his view, as is his father who compiled this book, but David's part and understanding of the war lasted from early April 1982 to the day he was sadly killed in action on 12 Jun 1982. His death did not allow him to read, as I have, much about the war and to learn by meeting many of the principals over nearly forty years. The Falklands war was pretty well run, all things being equal and, moreover, the islands were recovered from the disgusting, murderous dictatorship that was Argentina under General Galtieri. I can say that David Tinker, and his accusations, are hardly mentioned and hardly remembered. RIP David. show less

David Tinker's father assembled this anthology, and it is a fine record of a life cut short by Thatcher's and the argentine's miscalculations. It's quite moving.