font color="aqua"size="6">PLEASE SAY A PRAYER
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF
FALKLANDS WAR
font color="black"size="4">WE DEFEATED A TYRANT THEN WE CAN DO IT AGAIN IN IRAQ
REMEMBER ALL THE MILITARY TODAY
MANY OF TODAYS MILTARY FOUGHT IN THIS WAR
AND MANY LOST THIER LIVES
LONDON (Reuters) - Typhoon fighter jets and the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows will swoop low over Buckingham Palace on Sunday as Falklands veterans gather to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the war.
The flypast by 49 aircraft over central London forms part of a national event to remember those who helped recapture the South Atlantic islands from Argentine forces in 1982.
Hundreds of veterans will march down the Mall past Prince Charles, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor Gordon Brown and other senior political and military figures.
Margaret Thatcher, who as prime minister at the time of the invasion ordered the dispatch of a force to reclaim the disputed islands, is also due to attend.
The war claimed the lives of 258 British and 649 Argentine troops and ended with Argentina's surrender 10 weeks after it invaded the islands a few hundred miles east of its coast.
"The achievement of the Falklands Task Force, working against the odds 8,000 miles away from home, remains an incredible feat," Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a statement. "Tragically, 258 lives were lost on this operation. Through this event we will honour their memories."
The London commemoration will have a video link to a ceremony in the Falkland Islands attended by Prince Edward and Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram.
However, some of the most famous planes used by the British during the conflict will be missing from the flypast.
The single-engine Harrier jump jet is not allowed to fly low over central London for safety reasons, while the Phantom fighter will be replaced by its modern counterpart, the Typhoon.
A Vulcan bomber that was due to take part is still being restored. The Red Arrows display team will fly in a V-shape to represent the plane that was used for attacks on the airfield at Port Stanley.
"This is a great loss to the flypast as the Vulcans' Black Buck raids were a great logistical achievement and iconic to the conflict," said Admiral Peter Wilkinson, director of Falklands 25 Commemorations, the group organising the event.
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