Eileen Vidal BEM (died October, 2003) was a

kelper Falkland Islanders, also called FalklandersChater, Tony. ''The Falklands''. St. Albans: The Penna Press, 1996. p. 137. and nicknamed Kelpers, are the people of the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. Identity The Islande ...

telephone and radio operator who maintained radio service and relayed military intelligence to the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, receiving the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

for her service.

Service during the Falklands War

Eileen Vidal was a middle-aged woman, single parent and the islands government's principal radio telephone operator, jotting down telegrams and patching callers into

Port Stanley Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a popula ...

's telephone system. She established a trend of subversive radio transmissions on the morning of the Argentine invasion on 2 April. On 26 April she reported via

short wave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

to , which was patrolling off the Falklands, the size of the Argentine reinforcements of the initial Argentine assault force, which were at least nine Argentine

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

-sized units, giving them as much information as possible about the number Argentine ships and troops in Stanley, as well as about the aircraft and helicopters. Her message to HMS ''Endurance'' may have been the first information to come from the Falklands after the invasion because the short wave transmitters operated by Cable and Wireless had failed and the British Government had no firm information from the islands. The 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) was alerted and set sail to the Falklands. She was awarded the British Empire Medal for her service during the war.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Eileen Recipients of the British Empire Medal People of the Falklands War Falkland Islands women 2003 deaths