A Yashica TL Electro X in the Falklands War
Apr 4, 2024 13:38:10 GMT
on Apr 4, 2024 13:38:10 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 4, 2024 13:38:45 GMT by Ariel
Hello,
A friend from Bariloche (Argentina) shared with me an article in a local online newspaper, about the story of a "Yashica TL Electro X" camera used by a soldier and amateur photographer during the Malvinas/Falklands War and a missing roll, back in 1982.
Here is the link to the online newspaper article:
www.elcordillerano.com.ar/noticias/2024/04/04/185480-hechos-y-personas-que-se-conjugaron-para-darle-cuerpo-a-una-historia-de-malvinas-con-tintes-de-irrealidad
And here is an attempt of translation from Spanish to English of the story:
1) Carlos "Bocha" Mazzocchi, radarist in the Malvinas war, amateur photographer (very good), lost a roll of film in the war.
2) The film was found by British Captain Mark Willis.
3) Bocha, years later, gave the Japanese Yashica Reflex camera he had taken to the South Atlantic to his cousin Valeria Escobar, at a time when she was working as a tourist photographer in Las Grutas.
4) Mark Willis, in the city where he lives in Great Britain (Fleet, county of Hamshire), after years of trying not to return to the Malvinas issue, when talking with other Englishmen who were in the conflict, began to review the war period and remembered the existence of the photographic roll. He developed it and published some photos on Facebook to see if he could find the author.
5) Agustín Vázquez, a native of Santa Fe who is passionate about the Malvinas issue, noticed that one of the people in the pictures had a badge on his arm that corresponded to a unit of the Argentine Air Force. He investigated and realized that it corresponded to the radar operators.
6) Agustín Vázquez contacted the Air Force, where Brigadier Guillermo Saravia, when asked, recalled that only two people had a camera in the area shown in the photographs. One of them was Carlos, who in those distant days commented that he had lost a roll of film.
7) "That roll is yours," Saravia told Carlos when he called him to tell him about the discovery.
8) Mazzocchi had a video call with Willis, who promised to send him the photos.
9) Shortly after, in 2021, the envelope was in Bariloche. When he found out about the arrival of the material, Carlos went to pick it up at the post office. There he was attended by Leonardo Nicolás, who explained to him a series of steps he had to take in order to pick up the shipment, since it came from abroad. Carlos listened to him attentively and, when he was about to leave, he told him that inside the package there were photographs taken in the Malvinas, and detailed that they were sent by an Englishman who had found a film of him in the Islands in June 1982. After listening to him, Leonardo told his boss what was going on and asked for permission to help Bocha. Thus, the war veteran was able to take that same day what had arrived from the other side of the ocean.
10) Leonardo Nicolás, in a conversation with the undersigned, told the story.
11) I contacted Carlos Mazzocchi and interviewed him. The article was published in El Cordillerano and was picked up by several media of the country.
12) Valeria Escobar, Carlos' cousin and current principal of School 315 Malvina Soledad (in the neighborhood of Nuestras Malvinas), read the interview. She did not know that the camera her cousin had given her had been in Malvinas, and she did not know the story of the lost photos.
13) In a family meeting, Valeria proposed to Carlos to make an exhibition in the educational institution. But it was much more than an exhibition. The students worked side by side with the teachers; Bocha and other ex-combatants visited the institution and talked with the children; there was even an audiovisual montage of all the work carried out at the school.
14) After being exhibited at the school in Bariloche, the exhibition was taken to other towns in the Province of Río Negro, through the program Escuela Presente-Constructing Equal Opportunities, of the Ministry of Education of the Province of Río Negro.
15) The exhibition is currently on display at the Frey Hall of the Bariloche Civic Center. It will remain until April 30 and can be seen from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to the photos, there is a timeline about the Malvinas cause that goes far beyond the war.
16) As for the future, the idea is for the exhibition to reach Comallo, where cousins Carlos Mazzocchi and Valeria Escobar were born. There is also the possibility of exhibiting it at the Air Force premises in Peninsula San Pedro. Perhaps on some emblematic date, such as, for example, May 1st, when the Argentine Air Force's Baptism of Fire, which took place precisely in Malvinas, is commemorated.
Pictures: Facundo Pardo
A friend from Bariloche (Argentina) shared with me an article in a local online newspaper, about the story of a "Yashica TL Electro X" camera used by a soldier and amateur photographer during the Malvinas/Falklands War and a missing roll, back in 1982.
Here is the link to the online newspaper article:
www.elcordillerano.com.ar/noticias/2024/04/04/185480-hechos-y-personas-que-se-conjugaron-para-darle-cuerpo-a-una-historia-de-malvinas-con-tintes-de-irrealidad
And here is an attempt of translation from Spanish to English of the story:
1) Carlos "Bocha" Mazzocchi, radarist in the Malvinas war, amateur photographer (very good), lost a roll of film in the war.
2) The film was found by British Captain Mark Willis.
3) Bocha, years later, gave the Japanese Yashica Reflex camera he had taken to the South Atlantic to his cousin Valeria Escobar, at a time when she was working as a tourist photographer in Las Grutas.
4) Mark Willis, in the city where he lives in Great Britain (Fleet, county of Hamshire), after years of trying not to return to the Malvinas issue, when talking with other Englishmen who were in the conflict, began to review the war period and remembered the existence of the photographic roll. He developed it and published some photos on Facebook to see if he could find the author.
5) Agustín Vázquez, a native of Santa Fe who is passionate about the Malvinas issue, noticed that one of the people in the pictures had a badge on his arm that corresponded to a unit of the Argentine Air Force. He investigated and realized that it corresponded to the radar operators.
6) Agustín Vázquez contacted the Air Force, where Brigadier Guillermo Saravia, when asked, recalled that only two people had a camera in the area shown in the photographs. One of them was Carlos, who in those distant days commented that he had lost a roll of film.
7) "That roll is yours," Saravia told Carlos when he called him to tell him about the discovery.
8) Mazzocchi had a video call with Willis, who promised to send him the photos.
9) Shortly after, in 2021, the envelope was in Bariloche. When he found out about the arrival of the material, Carlos went to pick it up at the post office. There he was attended by Leonardo Nicolás, who explained to him a series of steps he had to take in order to pick up the shipment, since it came from abroad. Carlos listened to him attentively and, when he was about to leave, he told him that inside the package there were photographs taken in the Malvinas, and detailed that they were sent by an Englishman who had found a film of him in the Islands in June 1982. After listening to him, Leonardo told his boss what was going on and asked for permission to help Bocha. Thus, the war veteran was able to take that same day what had arrived from the other side of the ocean.
10) Leonardo Nicolás, in a conversation with the undersigned, told the story.
11) I contacted Carlos Mazzocchi and interviewed him. The article was published in El Cordillerano and was picked up by several media of the country.
12) Valeria Escobar, Carlos' cousin and current principal of School 315 Malvina Soledad (in the neighborhood of Nuestras Malvinas), read the interview. She did not know that the camera her cousin had given her had been in Malvinas, and she did not know the story of the lost photos.
13) In a family meeting, Valeria proposed to Carlos to make an exhibition in the educational institution. But it was much more than an exhibition. The students worked side by side with the teachers; Bocha and other ex-combatants visited the institution and talked with the children; there was even an audiovisual montage of all the work carried out at the school.
14) After being exhibited at the school in Bariloche, the exhibition was taken to other towns in the Province of Río Negro, through the program Escuela Presente-Constructing Equal Opportunities, of the Ministry of Education of the Province of Río Negro.
15) The exhibition is currently on display at the Frey Hall of the Bariloche Civic Center. It will remain until April 30 and can be seen from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to the photos, there is a timeline about the Malvinas cause that goes far beyond the war.
16) As for the future, the idea is for the exhibition to reach Comallo, where cousins Carlos Mazzocchi and Valeria Escobar were born. There is also the possibility of exhibiting it at the Air Force premises in Peninsula San Pedro. Perhaps on some emblematic date, such as, for example, May 1st, when the Argentine Air Force's Baptism of Fire, which took place precisely in Malvinas, is commemorated.
Pictures: Facundo Pardo