A VETERAN of the Falklands war, former Royal Navy officer Ian Sargeant survived weeks of bombing attacks on board is ship.
Mr Sargeant grew up in Derbyshire, England and while he thought about joining the Air Force, ended up joining the navy in 1958 with his brother.
He started as a junior radio electrical mechanic and progressed to a warrant officer, known then as a fleet chief petty officer.
In 1965 he spent time on the HMS Lincoln off Singapore in an Indonesian confrontation checking for gunners crossing the straits.
He was on the HMS Argonaut when the Falklands war started in 1982.
"We were all keen to go," he said.
From Ascension Island the ship was convoyed out.
They came under attack from planes, on May 21, suffering three casualties, and heavy air attacks continued.
"It went on like that for about two weeks," he said.
At one point the ship had two bombs inside, one in the engine room, and was without power in the middle of the harbour, a "sitting duck".
While staff were cutting bulkheads out for a bomb, the ship caught fire. Luckily the ship was saved.
Mr Sargeant remembers that a Derbyshire man died during the war, about a month after his marriage, and his medals were taken back to his wife.
Altogether Mr Sargeant spent 26 years in the Royal Navy, leaving in 1984.
He and his wife Margaret first visited Australia in 1999 for their daughter's wedding in South Australia, and returned a year later to meet their first grandson.
Five months later they returned and bought a block in Riverslea.
In 2006 they sold it and bought a house in Tunbridge Street.
Mr Sargeant is a member of the Margaret River RSL, was the Margaret River Lions Club vice-president for a few years, president of the Margaret River District Club for two years and treasurer for two years, and treasurer for Arts Margaret River.
His wife is a volunteer with the Red Cross.
Their daughter and two grandsons live locally, and the Sargeants make visits back to England to see a son and two granddaughters there.
This year Mr Sargeant will miss the Anzac Day service, making one of the trips back to England to visit family.
