Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The South Atlantic medal awarded to Steward Adrian Greenwood, Royal Navy, who was injured while rescuing a shipmate from a burning helicopter hangar when H.M.S. Glamorgan was hit by an exocet missile on 12 June 1982

South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (Std A P Greenwood D176976K HMS Glamorgan) nearly extremely fine £600-£800

H.M.S. Glamorgan, a County-class Destroyer launched in 1964, served throughout the Falklands War, when she fired 1,450 4.5 inch rounds, more than any other vessel in the conflict. She was slightly damaged by bombs on 1 May 1982, and was hit by a land launched exocet missile on 12 June 1982, with the loss of 14 men killed. The fires from this attack were brought under control and she was back in service 36 hours later.

Adrian Peter Greenwood was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, on 16 November 1962. He joined the Royal Navy as a Junior Assistant Steward 2nd Class on 29 May 1979, becoming Assistant Steward while serving aboard Glamorgan on 1 September 1980. He was advanced to Steward aboard the same ship on 28 February 1981. He was injured when Glamorgan was hit by an exocet missile on 12 June 1982. He later reported, ‘We knew it was coming about 20 seconds before it hit. The captain turned the ship around by 35 degrees to make it a smaller target. But it exploded as it hit us. It shouldn’t really do that, they’re fitted with delay timings. It broke in two, half went into the helicopter hangar and half into the galley through the deck. It cut a groove in the flight deck. I was overcome by gas.’ The gas was highly toxic, escaping from the hangar. Greenwood continues, ‘A friend and I went in to save someone who was inside a compartment which was blazing. There were firefighters about, but we knew he was in there so we went in. In the hangar, something had hit him across his legs and he couldn’t walk. I think he had broken both his legs and had severed tendons. We were beaten back the first time but we knew he was in there and we knew we had to go in. The man probably didn’t know who pulled him out. After all, it’s all in the line of duty.’ At first he did not know he had been hurt apart from feeling a little sick. Then someone said he looked white. The ship’s doctor said his lungs might swell up in a few days. He was consequently transferred to H.M.S. Hermes, where he spent five days in the sick bay. Returning home in November 1982, Greenwood had a shore posting at H.M.S. Pembroke before joining the Royal Yacht Britannia, where he served as Steward from January to October 1983. He returned to sea one last time aboard H.M.S. Glamorgan from May 1984 to January 1985, before transferring to the Royal Marines on 11 February 1985. He was discharged from the Royal Marines on 18 September 1985.

Sold with named card box of issue, identity disk, copied R.N. Certificate of Service, original R.M. Certificate of Discharge, Guildhall Luncheon program in honour of the Task Force signed by Margaret Thatcher and Jeremy Moore, and an album of photographs covering the Falklands and with numerous news cuttings reporting his bravery, homecoming and service aboard Britannia.