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The true story of the missing Falklands Guardsmen
| Author | Philip Williams |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
| ISBN # | 0-7475-0598-5 |
| On-line Merchant | Bloomsbury |
Cover Notes
Guardsman Philip Williams was 18 when he fought in the Falklands war, the night of the battle for Tumbledown was to change his life in a totally unexpected way. Philip was left for dead on the mountain, and when he came to, the British contingent had totally disappeared. It was to take Philip seven weeks to find his way back to civilization, a time of atrocious blizzards, scant food and the company of dead Argentinean soldiers, but his problems were only just beginning. In his absence his parents had been informed of his death and a memorial service had been held in his honor. When in the press could not stop distorting the facts his astonishing returned turned sour, and life and in the Army was quickly to prove as tough, leaving Philip feeling victimized and isolated.
Irrevocably scared by his experiences of on the Falklands and their aftermath, not to mention his hostile treatment by the media, at last Philip tells his version of what happened to him and the real reasons behind his subsequent rejection by both the Army and a normal civilized life.
Novelist M Power approach Philip after reading a magazine article on him. Summer Soldier is the outcome of their meeting, often provocative, it is a searing portrait of someone who as lived a nightmare, a story of utterly compulsive reading.
Reviews
Kate Plowman
This is the story of a bright young man from Lancaster who joined the Scots Guards in part, one feels, because of the lack of other job opportunities in his home town. One extreme situation (being knocked out by a bomb explosion during the battle for Tumbledown and coming to only after the battle, and indeed the war) caused the rest of his comrades to victimise him - an example of the pack turning on one of its own. His account of his subsequent time in the military and hounding by the media make horrifying and salutary reading. He seems by the end of the book to have found some peace - today he will be in his mid-thirties or so; let us hope that has achieved some kind of fulfilment in his life now.
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