The War Hero

On 23 May 1982, Captain John Phillips, then 39, was blown up trying to diffuse an unexploded bomb in the Falklands. It killed his partner, severed his arm and changed his life forever

The unexploded bomb inside the ship wasn’t like the one we’d diffused the day before.

This one had been dropped from enough height that it had had time to arm. And it was ready to blow.

Two days earlier, Staff Sergeant Jim Prescott and I landed with the first wave of British soldiers on the Falkland Islands.

A two-man bomb disposal team with the Royal Engineers, we were tasked with diffusing unexploded bombs dropped on ships by the Argentinian air force. That day, one had smashed through the hull of HMS Antelope.

After four attempts to disarm the bomb, nothing appeared to have happened.

We didn’t know the device had a 28-second delay. Just as we were preparing to expect it, it blew.

As I flew through the air, time stopped.