Forty years after the Falklands conflict Brian Short is in touch with a number of Argentine prisoners of war he guarded.

Indeed when hostilities ended in summer 1982, and the PoWs were allowed home, several of them signed a thank-you card to him.

They were grateful that even as enemy captives they had still been fairly treated.

Decades later an Argentine historian traced all who had signed that card and several of the signatories were in contact with Mr Short via emails and Facebook messages.

Mr Short, who lives in Deal, was a Royal Marine during the conflict, said: "They've been back in touch periodically.

"As a military man if you're sent to war you're sent by politicians and a failure of government and diplomacy. So once the hostilities are finished provided you've acted gracefully and with honour, and the enemy has, then you can shake hands and respect each other."

Looking back at the conflict Mr Short, now 65, says: "It was a very important period of my life: comradeship, excitement, sadness and a just cause.

"The Falkland Islands were invaded by the Argentines and we went across and liberated them. When you meet the Islanders you realise how British they are and how they were subjugated by the Argentines, the invading army."

It was exactly 40 years ago, on April 2, that Argentina invaded the islands and they were finally liberated by the British Task Force on June 14, 1982.

But there were a moments during the conflict when Mr Short wondered if he would follow his father' footsteps in the worst possible way.

Brian Short Sr had been killed as a Royal Marine during the Suez conflict in1956.

When Mr Short Jr, had sailed to the Falklands with his comrades, they had to dodge enemy gunfire and bombardment.

He said: "My father and I had exactly the same name and I wondered if there was now going to be another Royal Marine headstone with the name Brian John Short."

In 1982, Mr Short was a Lance Corporal and percussionist and drummer in the Royal Marines Band Service at Plymouth. He had been sent to the Falklands as a medic on the troop and hospital ship Canberra (in civilian life a P&O ocean liner).

The ship came under fire on arrival at San Carlos Bay on May 21 but was not hit.

He said: "There were dozens of different air attacks and it was incredibly scary. It went on all day.

"The area was known as Bomb Alley because it was notorious for these sorts of incidents. We would sail at night to try to avoid bombardment.

"Another Task Force ship was actually hit, HMS Ardent.

"Four Royal Marines were killed and they had to be buried at sea

"That was quite an emotional experience."

During the fighting Mr Short learned that the enemy was more formidable than first thought.

He said: "You have to give credit to the bravery of the Argentine pilots even when a high percentage were shot down.

"Not all the Argentine soldiers were conscripts - they had marines and special forces too.

"They had the numbers and the equipment but were still nowhere near as well trained and led as our forces.

"We were young men full of testosterone and excitement.

"But one of the moments that really made me emotional was when we sailed home to Southampton just after the conflict.My wife met me at the dock at Southampton and said she had seen a little girl looking for her dad.

"It turned out there were a lot of children looking for their dads among the returning servicemen there but not all had come home."

One part of Kent that had a significant role in the war effort was Medway with its then Chatham Dockyard.

It provided support to the Royal Navy, and was a home to the Stand-by Squadron, poised to replace warships allocated to the Task Force.

Work took place there 24 hours a day to prepare ships and submarines for recommissioning.

HMS Endurance, based at Chatham, served as a Royal Naval Antarctic patrol vessel from 1967 to 1991.

She was due to be withdrawn but the Falklands conflict meant she continued service. Endurance was initially tasked with delivering a Royal Marine detachment to evict Argentinians occupying South Georgia.

The ship returned to Chatham Dockyard on August 20,1982. It is estimated that 20,000 people lined the River Medway to welcome her home.

She had been at sea for 11 months and was the first and last Royal Navy ship present in the conflict.

In the years leading up to the conflict, the Dockyard had also been responsible for the refuelling and refitting of the Royal Navy’s Nuclear submarines which were sent to the Falklands.

These were HMS Conqueror, HMS Courageous, HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite. This work took up to two million hours and took about half of the Dockyard’s ship work capacity.

HMS Warspite's post-refit trials had to be compressed into four weeks before she left for the Falklands. Her Captain was commanded to “get out of refit and get into action as soon as possible”.

The British Government had planned to close Chatham Dockyard in 1981 but its role in the conflict kept it open until 1984.

The Falklands had been consistently under the British flag since 1833 but Argentina had disputed the sovereignty and claimed the islands, which it called Islas Malvinas.

In April 1982, Argentina was under a military junta (dictatorship) headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri.

He hoped an invasion would stir up Argentine patriotism and distract people from the country's chronic economic problems and human rights abuses.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined that the islands would be taken back and ordered a task force to set sail.

The first Royal Navy vessels began the journey on April 4, two days after the invasion.

Before the landing of British forces on the main islands there had been fierce sea and air battles and consequences included the sinking of the Argentine ship General Belgrano, killing 368 crew.

British forces landed on the beaches around San Carlos Water on May 21.

After several land battles the islands' capital, Port Stanley, was recaptured and Argentine forces surrendered on June 14.

This had been an undeclared war lasting just 10 weeks but it led to the deaths of 255 on the British side and 649 on the Argentine.

'Thatcher had no choice but to take the Falklands back..."

The British win had turned around the fortunes of Mrs Thatcher who until then had become the most unpopular Prime Minister for decades, particularly as millions were then unemployed.

But the Falklands Factor greatly helped her win a landslide in the General Election a year later.

To this day she is revered on the islands as a liberator and was granted the Freedom of the Falkland Islands in 1983. There is even an annual Margaret Thatcher Day in January.

Mr Short said: "I don't think she had any choice but to take the islands back. If you go to war you need a good, strong, decisive leader.

"You don't want wishy washy politicians not wanting to go too far.

"The cause was just because the Falklanders were British and wanted to stay British. They were like people from Dartmoor or Scotland.

"They even drove on the left like us and had red telephone boxes.

"We were liberating them. The Argentines even wanted them to drive on the right and Speak Spanish. Their police were like the Gestapo on the islands."

In 2013 a referendum of islanders saw 99.8% of votes saying the Falklands should remain a British overseas territory.

The war and its end in the early eighties led to a wave of patriotism in Britain although some of the media were accused of being too jingoistic.

The Sun was particularly keen on backing the war effort and had the slogan "the paper that supports our boys" and nicknamed the enemy "Argies."

It also had headlines such as "Stick it up your junta" but was particularly criticised for its headline "Gotcha" when the Belgrano was sunk.

Brian Short is currently best know as the writer and director of the annual Sergeant's Mess pantomimes, which are performed in the Astor Theatre in Deal.

He is originally from Plymouth and joined the Royal Marines School of Music near Deal in 1973, staying there for two years.

He was with the Royal Marines back in Plymouth from 1975 to 1987 and then returned to the RMSM, staying there until 1991.

Mr Short then joined Kent Police, based in Dover district from 1991 to 1997 and Thanet for five years until 2002.

Last year he finished a book on his experiences in the Falklands, The Band That Went to War, published by Pen & Sword, price £25.

Brian Short is married with three children and two grandchildren.

The present Historic Dockyard Chatham, at Main Gate Road, is hosting a photographic exhibition called Everything Changed, from April 5 to June 14, to mark the anniversary.

It has images by Falklands-based journalist and photographer Graham Bound showing the invasion, fighting and aftermath in 1982.