ON the 25th anniversary of the start of the Falklands war, a former soldier who served in the elite Special Forces has told of his memories.

And the East Lancashire officer, who asked not to be identified as he has signed the Official Secrets Act, told us about battles, bombs and death - and the Falkland's beautiful sunsets.

"IT was 90 per cent boredom and 10 per cent action", said the former soldier.

During the Falklands War he was responsible for signals and explosives, or "demolition", and spent much of his time spying on enemy locations, reporting what he saw to his commanders, who then authorised bombing raids.

Michael (not his real name), now 46 years old, said: "From my point of view I spent most of the time in what we knew as OPs, or Observation Posts.

"Ninety per cent of everything you do as a soldier is waiting and planning. One of the things about the Falklands War was that we had plenty of time to sit and think and look, and the sun-ups and sunsets were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

"The fighting was very brief. A lot of it was waiting around. There was a lot of waiting and a lot of planning and then everything seemed to happen at once.

"It was not all horror and fighting.

"Our job was to observe.

"We would sit in the OP watching enemy movements, logging positions and watching them when they took their tea breaks, finding out what the strengths were and relaying this to headquarters and they would act on it.

"From that point of view my experiences were at a distance. The guards and the marines did the hand to hand fighting and that really was the tough end." For East Lancashire veterans, the anniversary is a time to remember friends who died or were injured, and look back on the events.

Twenty-five years ago today the Falkland Islands were invaded by an Argentine invasion force, overpowering 80 Royal Marines and local volunteers.

The next day Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced a task force would be sent to the South Atlantic islands. After diplomatic talks failed, fighting broke out.

The first British attacks started on May 1 when the RAF bombed the airfield at Port Stanley, the island's capital.

By June the war was almost over, and on June 14, Argentine General Menendez surrendered to British Major-General Jeremy Moore.

But despite the short period of fighting, 258 British troops were killed, 777 wounded and 59 taken prisoner. Of the Argentine forces, 649 were killed, 1,068 wounded and 11,313 taken prisoner.

The Lancashire Telegraph reported at the time of the deaths of five East Lancashire soldiers. Oswaldtwistle-born Chief Petty Officer Edmund Flannagan, a 37-year-old father of four, died when his ship was hit by an Exocet missile.

Pilot Sergeant Andrew Evans, 32 of Accrington, a Royal Marine Commando, died when his helicopter was hit.

Naval airman Brian Marsden, 19, of Great Harwood, also lost his life in a tragic accident when the vehicle he was using to tow an aircraft crashed, along with Blackburn sailor Gary Whitford, 25, who died when his ship the HMS Ardent was sunk.

SAS Lance Corporal Philip Jones, 28, of Hoddlesden, died in a Sea King helicopter crash.

"It's of the utmost importance to remember the dates and the people that have lost their lives.

"These people have lost their lives for democracy," said Michael, who left the services in the mid-1980s