Denzil Connick

Denzil Connick is the co-founder (along with Rick Jolly) and secretary of the South Atlantic Medal Association formed in 1997. He served with 3 PARA during the 1982 Falklands War and lost a leg during the Battle of Mount Longdon.

Lance Corporal Connick was 25 when he boarded SS Canberra at Southampton to set sail for the Falkland Islands. Prior to sailing, Denzil admits to not knowing where the islands were.

He was a radio operator with a fire support team and was wounded on 12 June by a Mortar shell that killed Craftsman Alex Shaw of REME and Private Craig Jones. Denzil had his left leg blown off and his right leg badly mutilated. He was stretchered back to the Regimental Aid Post (RAP) before flown to a field hospital and then taken aboard the Hospital Ship SS Uganda where he stayed for four weeks. Once back in Britain he spent another six months in hospital.

Connick, campaigns for better treatment of Falkland Veterans and is particularly concerned with the high incidence of Suicides since the Conflict. Denzil blames the high suicide rate on the "stiff-upper-lip brigade" and a lack of resources to tackle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"Nobody knows the official figures for suicides – that is one of the problems. But we know we have lost an average of 10 veterans per year since the conflict ended. That makes 260 veterans who have committed suicide and that is bound to be a conservative estimate. I am almost certain there will be dozens more we do not know about and the figure is likely to be more than 255". Connick added that research into US Vietnam War veterans and former Israeli servicemen had revealed similar patterns.

Connick, himself a PTSD sufferer, said "What the Government has to do is make more funds available to support organisations such as Combat Stress, which works with ex-servicemen suffering psychiatric illnesses."