Winter Talk: The Falklands War – Personal Reflections
Major Adrian Freer, 21C A Coy, 3 PARA
Image shows the then Captain Freer’s time in Falkland – he is the one of the left.
Adrian Freer was serving as an exchange officer at Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in early April 1982. By various means he managed to join 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) and sailed south on the Canberra on Good Friday. Six weeks at sea including an extended stay off Ascension Island, cross-decking onto HMS INTREPID deep into the South Atlantic at H-48 hours, 3 PARA landed on GREEN 1 – Port San Carlos – on 21 May. After less than week ashore and with pressure from London to move, 3 Commando Brigade began its movement eastwards across East Falkland. 3 PARA along with 45 Commando RM yomped/tabbed the whole way via various settlements before ‘marking time’ just west of a ring of hills overlooking Port Stanley. 3 PARA, overnight 10/11 June, attacked and captured Mount Longdon, a bloody encounter in which the Battalion lost 23 killed and 40-plus wounded. After 48 hours of incessant artillery fire causing further casualties, the Battalion was ordered to advance into Port Stanley where, en route, the Argentinian forces surrendered. The Battalion, along with 2 PARA, returned on the Norland to Ascension Island where both battalions flew back to RAF Brize Norton with British Caledonian.
About the Speaker
Adrian Freer served a full career in the British Army where he reached the rank of major general. He commanded a parachute battalion, a training brigade and an airborne brigade. He saw operational service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands and Kosovo. He commanded the International Military Advisory Training Team in Sierra Leone and completed his service seconded to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. After leaving the Army in 2005, he completed a number of diverse security projects in the Middle East and Africa. He also project managed a confidential public/private security operation within the UK for Control Risks. From 2008 to 2017 he was, first, the Head of Approvals and Compliance within the Office for Civil Nuclear Security and, second, the Director of Civil Nuclear Security, from 2011 to 2017, within the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
Outside his military and security careers he was Chairman of Trustees for the Airborne Forces Museum for 12 years. Adrian Freer is a graduate of the Army Staff College, the Joint Services Higher Command and Staff College and the Royal College of Defence Studies. He was awarded an OBE for counter insurgency operations in Northern Ireland and a QCVS for humanitarian operations in Kosovo. Now fully retired he is Vestry Secretary at St Mary’s Church in Birnam, a Trustee of the Three Churches Charity Shop in Dunkeld, and the Royal Perth Golfing Society’s golf secretary.
Ticket Application
Timings – All talks will take place in The Colours’ Room located in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum, Kings Old Building, Stirling Castle. Lectures will begin at 11.00am, last one hour with refreshments from 10.30am and after the event.
Tickets – Tickets are £15 each and can be purchased at the bottom of this page. There is no need to buy an additional Stirling Castle ticket.
Parking – If you wish to park on the Esplanade you will have to purchase a parking ticket. We are not able to reserve any parking and this will be charged at £5 per car. Free parking may be available on Ballengeich Pass/Upper Castlehill Road – please note there are timed restrictions for these areas.
Further Information- If you require further information, please email the museum team at museum@argylls.co.uk
