In Memoriam

Lain Boldy

"I remember it all pretty well. The last time I saw him was in his corner in the Red Cow Allestree, just the same as he always was laughing and joking, no cares. The next we knew was his name was on a front page list in a tabloid of those killed."

Lain Boldy

Iain Boldy died when his ship was attacked by Argentinian aircraft during the Falklands conflict.

Just 20, he was serving as a radar operator on board the HMS Argonaut when it was bombed in May 1982, just three months after he married his wife Margaret.

One of the most popular members of his class, he left school to join the navy like his older brothers and was planning to start a new life in Australia when hw was killed. His last words as the planes attacked were: “Well, who’s going to make the tea then?”

Republished by kind permission of The Derby Evening Telegraph.

If you have any comments or memories of Iain from your days at school please share them on the Forums by clicking here.

Lain Boldy

"Well, who's going to make the tea then? "

Memories of Lain from members of The Bemrose Forums.

"I remember it all pretty well. The last time I saw him was in his corner in the Red Cow Allestree, just the same as he always was laughin and joking, no cares. The next we knew was his name was on a front page list in a tabloid of those killed. I was at Birmingham Uni and remember seeing the other Ex Bemrose lads there, we couldnt believe it. I think he was on the Antelope. He was unfortunate to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, his ship was hit by an exocete missile that failed to go off, the casualties were minimal but he was one. What a waste of such a lovelly lad!!!"

~DaveW123

"I'm pleased to say that Iain Michael Andrew McDonald Boldy was probably my 'bestest mate' at Bemrose - even though he was in the 'year below'. We both lived in Darley Abbey and shared a common lunatic sense of humour, girlfriends, scraps, fags, beer (Red Cow, Allestree), circle of friends, discos, denim gear, groovy haircuts and a love of his very silly Dalmatian dog - Duke. Thick as a brick (the dog, not Iain).

Although we naturally grew apart some when he joined the Navy (and I joined RR) and we both gathered new friends around us we still met up occasionally for a pint.

During those troubled times of April / May 1982 Iain was serving as a Radar Plotter (an 'RP' in Navy parlance - termed a 'Rose Petal' because of the little satchel that they used to have to carry with all their 'kit' around in - charts and books and stuff) and worked in the Control Room aboard the Frigate, HMS Argonaut.

There were never any public reports of Argonaut being hit during the conflict but she certainly was. She was not seriously damaged and made it back home unassisted.

There are two conflicting versions of how Iain died.
(1) The Official RN version : A bomb struck the Control Room area of the ship and a few crew were killed instantly.
(2) The unofficial RN version - unknowingly let slip to a mutual friend by an ex-RN Officer serving at the time : A bomb struck the ship close to the Control Room but characteristically failed to explode because they were being released from such a low altitude (the fuse was not being given time to set before impact). The Captain of the Argonaut then had to take the decision to seal off and 'steam' those sections of the ship that would have been affected should the bomb have exploded. Any crew caught in the sealed sections would have been suffocated.

We don't know for sure. Maybe the 'Thirty Year rule' may reveal the truth. I look forward to 2012.

Either way.......

The strange thing was - and I read a couple of his letters home when I visited his parents afterwards - he KNEW that he wasn't going to make it back. Even though he had only got married a few months before setting sail - he KNEW. There wasn't any maudling tearfulness about it or feeble attempts at rationalising or trying to escape from it. He just accepted it and carried on. and more oddly still, this seemed to make it easier for his parents; Arthur and Matty; to accept too.

Even though his body was never (reportedly) recovered, there was a full bullshit memorial service for him at his Church of Baptism - St Joseph's in Derby where the Mayor and various Civil and Military dignitaries turned up and filled the front three benches and we all appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph.

A few years after his death, Arthur and Matty emigrated to Australia to join Iain's elder brother Ron and wife Liz. Ron had also served in the Navy and was about twelve years older than Iain. Liz was a Buyer for the Australian MoD.

I've not heard of Arthur and Matty since. They did actually have Iain quite late on in life - they also had another son (Keith) who was some fifteen years older than Iain - so I wouldn't be surprised if they had both 'joined him' by now.

I still have a copy of the DET that reported his loss and a copy of the Order of Sevice from the Memorial Service.

Damn, I still miss him.
Silly sod.
God love him.

This was twenty years ago and I'm now sitting here with tears in my eyes."

~Dave Wildgoose