By Iwan Davies BBC Wales News Online

Sir Galahad docked in Cardiff Bay

Falklands veterans who survived the bombing of the Sir Galahad by Argentine aircraft gathered in Cardiff Bay for an emotional reunion.

Fifty men, many of them Welsh Guardsmen, died on 8 June 1982 - only six days before Argentina surrendered - when the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram troop ships were attacked at Fitzroy.

On Saturday a group of survivors visited the Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship Sir Galahad, which took its name from the ship sunk as a war grave off the Falklands.

The veterans were invited for a tour of the ship and for a church service followed by a lunch.

The sight of the ship brought a tear to the eye of Maldwyn Jones, from Bangor, north Wales, who was a 23-year-old lance corporal and his platoon's medic.

There are many unaccounted acts of heroism from that day Andy 'Curly' Jones

"It looks the same as the old ship - I never thought I'd feel like this.

"I was in the main hold where lots got killed and I knew most of the lads who died - I lost four or five good friends."

The Sir Galahad was the first to bring humanitarian aid into the port of Um Qasr during last year's war in Iraq.

Mr Jones, who is now an officer in North Wales Police, said he had made the journey from north Wales to support fellow comrades.

Maldwyn Jones gave morphine to the injured

"I've got other friends in Bangor who couldn't face coming down today," he said.

"There's one who will only talk to fellow ex-servicemen about what happened that day.

"When you spend such a long time together in the army, you make a lot of close friends who can become closer to you than your own family.

"What happened has changed me as a person."

Andy 'Curly' Jones, originally from Carmarthen but now living in Brecon, was a 19-year-old Welsh Guardsmen who said there were many untold deeds of heroism carried out that fateful day.

"I owe my life as do 20 others to an anonymous sailor - I still don't know who he was - who led us through the smoke, fire and ammunition to safety.

Andy 'Curly' Jones was a teenager at the time of the attack

"He was an apparition in a towel - I think he must have been having a shower when the boat was hit.

"I think what happened that day has a place not in the hearts of the veterans but has a place in the heart of Wales as a nation which mourned and identified with those images of 22 years ago.

"There are many unaccounted acts of heroism from that day and victories in calmness, organisation and professionalism - the medics and the doctors both in the Falklands and back home who saved people's lives.

"And of course another little victory for so many being able to be here today.

"By the end of today I feel I will be able to close a chapter in my life and look forward with happier memories."