When Keith Sanders laid a wreath at the Memorial Theatre in Frome honouring those who died in the Falkland's War, 40 years ago, it was a touching and sombre service, but one that was very personal to him.

The Naval recruit was in the Falklands in May 1982 and he watched as the HMS Sheffield was hit by a missile which would kill 20 comrades. But he was also proud that it was the ship on which he served, HMS Arrow which was alongside her for hours and helped save those who when the order came to abandon ship

For the first eight years after the conflict he could not bring himself to talk about his experience, a terrible time for someone who was just 20 years old and witnessed, first hand one of the most desperate episodes of the war.

Fate played a hand or should that be leg?

Keith Tomlin, as he was known during his navy days, was the cook of the ship, but not that ship. He had been in the seas on his own ship and then the Naval caterer from HMS Arrow broke his leg, so Keith was swapped in.

The Falklands War had fateful moments like that - HMS Sheffield was not supposed to be there either. Their ship was on its way home after a six month posting and were diverted to South Atlantic at the last minute - to somewhere Keith admits most of the young recruits had never even heard of.

He sums it up in one sentence : " We went there as boys and came back as men."

Caption: Keith at the Royal Naval Association rig commemorating with the guys from HMS Sheffield. Class of 82.

Keith, who joined the Navy in 1977, was in GIbraltar, when the Falklands War broke out, serving on a group of ships known as the three musketeers.

He explained : " We took all the stores from the other ships ( HMS Antrim and HMS Glamorgan) who took off back to the UK before sailing back to be part of the main task force, then we set sail for for the Ascension Islands. As for the Falklands, well a. we didn't know where it was and b. we didn't know it was ours."

That journey into the unknown took four weeks because it was a full eight thousand miles away.

Especially for such a young crew.

Keith explained: " The average age of our crew was 20 years and four months... we were boys. I was 20 and a half, I came to back to the UK three weeks before my 21st birthday. It was when I grew up. " Catering on the Type 1 frigate was also a challenge - cooking for 190 crew .

" I was supposed to be on the ship for just six weeks, but it turned into seven months because of the conflict. "

The main fighting began on May 1 and then on May 4, a fateful day, HMS Sheffield was hit. " We went alongside ten minutes after she was hit and stayed seven hours until the order was given to abandon ship. We saved 280 crew . It was the longest day of my life."

She got hit at precisely 11:04 and Keith saw the explosion.

"I was up on the bridge, I saw the Exocet, I saw her hit. Then we went alongside to help and we were there for hours and hours as they tried to save the ship before the order came to abandon ship .

"It was just horrible, and when you saw the people when they were told to evacuate, they were covered in smoke, and they had to leave everything behind, they brought nothing with them just the clothes they had on. They have always said to me on reunions ' Thank you for what you did that day.'

"But I always say if the roles had been reversed you would have done the same and saved me. We are all comrades."

Of the 281 crew members, 20 (mainly on duty in the galley area and computer room) died in the attack, with another 26 injured, mostly from burns, smoke inhalation or shock.

Some people still can't talk about what they saw

Keith explained : " Down there what you saw, well it just changes you. Some people still can't talk about it. I could not talk about it for eight years.. Then in 2014 I went to the Falklands to lay some ghosts to rest as it were. That helped me. But it still stays with you. I saw everything, but you had to say to yourself - this a job - and if you came out at the end of the day, you were grateful. But it was terrifying."

Moments of the war did stand out like when two sister ships, the HMS Antelope and the Argonaut*got hit. That left Keith's ship HMS Arrow as the only type 1 frigate in the war theatre. He said : " You had to start thinking oh they have a liking for our type of ship ! I never expected to come home, my younger brother, who was 12 at the time ,told my mother don't worry he will come home, but I never expected to.

" We would get daily updates on the situation, and we followed the World Service. I always remember at the end of the war, the captain gave his final report and then he said those immortal words 'We Are Going Home' . The best words ever."

The Falklands War lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June.

We do not want to forget

Keith adds his own personal message : " I feel that the Falklands War is the forgotten war. We hear about World War 1 and 2, Afghan and Iraq, very little is mentioned about the Falklands. It is important to remember what we did, fighting for queen and country. I left the Navy in July 1991 - every year around thise time I feel what we went through . I could not speak about it for years and when I came back for a while I couldn't walk into our local pub in Rode, I was like a local village hero, they put out the bunting, but I didn't want to walk in, my mum had to persuade me - this is for you she was saying.

"Year on year it has got easier and I don't regret anything, it had to be done.

"We were proud of saving lives of those we did. Those who escaped onto our ship that is what I think about."