Martina: The surprise? That the war was over.
Pero a la mañana siguiente recibimos una sorpresa. Specifically, dozens of servings of a traditional Argentinian dish: Milanesas, which are basically breaded flank steaks. Roberto’s superior asked them to make food for the coming days.
So when Roberto and his battalion heard this on the radio, they hunkered down for the night. Martina: Rendir… surrender… General Menéndez from Argentina confidently announced that it would never happen. Roberto: Esa noche estábamos escuchando por la radio al gobernador militar de las islas, el General Mario Menéndez. As it turns out, Roberto and his battalion were only a few blocks away. Martina: While they sat together at the bar, Roberto told John where he was the night the missile hit John’s house. Roberto: La historia de John Fowler y su perspectiva sobre la guerra cambiaron mi visión de mi guerra, para siempre. But three women who took refuge with them inside the house died that night. Martina: When the bomb fell, John was able to protect his own family. Todos estaban nerviosos: los combates se aproximaban. La mujer de John y sus dos hijos pequeños también estaban ahí. Roberto: Estaban ahí, precisamente, porque era la construcción más sólida y segura. It had been one of the most violent nights of the war, towards the end of the conflict. John told him about the times he felt most terrified, like when a missile fell into his house, where his family and others were taking refuge. Martina: John opened Roberto’s eyes to how locals had perceived the Argentinean Army as invaders. Me sorprendió escuchar sobre su miedo y sufrimiento por la ocupación de las fuerzas armadas argentinas. Roberto: Él y yo fuimos a un bar para beber unas cervezas y conversar. John era superintendente de educación de las Islas Malvinas durante la guerra, y después fue secretario de turismo. Roberto: Cuando regresé a las islas, conocí a un hombre que se llama John Fowler. Martina: So Roberto returned to the islands. Roberto: Me di cuenta de que era el momento de escribir un libro sobre mi guerra. In that moment, he decided it was time to face his old memories. Then one day his son asked him about what the war was like and Roberto realized it had been 25 years since it ended. And for the longest time, Roberto wondered if he would ever set foot on those islands again. The bomb that exploded near his head, thankfully, didn’t injure him. Martina: 18 year old Roberto joined the military for the same reason many of his fellow soldiers joined - because it was obligatory back then. Roberto: Me explotó una bomba a pocos metros de la cabeza. Era obligatorio y muchos tuvimos que ir a las islas a combatir. Roberto: En ese momento yo tenía 18 años y era un joven haciendo el servicio militar. And in less than three months, the British won. The prime minister of the UK, Margaret Thatcher, ordered her armed forces to recover them. Martina: The military dictator at the time, Leopoldo Galtieri, sent in troops to take the islands by force. Roberto: ¡Si quieren venir, que vengan, les presentaremos batalla! Until all of a sudden, on April 2, 1982, Argentina decided it was time to reclaim its sovereignty over them. Martina: Gran Bretaña, or Great Britain, and Argentina disputed their claim to the islands for more than 150 years. Argentina las colonizó en el año 1830, pero Gran Bretaña las ocupó tres años después. Roberto: Las Islas Malvinas, o ‘Falkland Islands’ en inglés, están en el océano Atlántico Sur. Martina: When Roberto returned to the Falklands in the winter of 2006, the first thing he saw through the airplane window was the shape of the islands he so vividly remembered. The Spanish in this story is for intermediate level learners, but if you get lost, don’t worry, we will be chiming in throughout the story. Martina: Welcome to the Duolingo Spanish Podcast, where we bring you true bilingual stories of travels with unexpected turns, plans unraveled, and destinations unknown. Roberto: Me hice un nuevo amigo, un amigo que hace muchos años fue mi enemigo. So he decided to return to the islands - but of all the people he planned on meeting there, there was one he wasn’t expecting. Martina: More than two decades after the war ended, Roberto wanted to face his trauma from the war… and write a book about what happened on those islands so long ago. Roberto: Nunca pensé que iba a volver al lugar de mis peores memorias. Roberto Herrscher was one of the Argentine soldiers who fought and survived. It was a chaotic war with the United Kingdom back in 1982, waged to stake claim to these tiny islands off the southern tip of Argentina. Martina: In Argentina, people can get emotional about a lot of things - like soccer, beef, soccer… But there’s one experience that stands apart: the war over the Falkland Islands, or as Argentinians refer to them, las Islas Malvinas. Click here for study materials for this episode.
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