THE first thing Lance Corporal Len Carver knew about the Argentine ambush was a shout of hey hombre!' followed by a burst of automatic gunfire.

The two paratroopers in front saw it coming and dived to safety but the men behind were not so lucky.

One man took four rounds in the chest, killing him outright. L/Cpl Carver, then aged 22, was hit in mid-air as he dived for cover and another man was struck in the shin.

The bullet, which may have already gone through the body of the man in front, pierced his left side and bounced out again, after tearing through his lung.

The force threw him backwards and he tumbled 25 feet down a rocky slope.

The paras who had dived to safety killed the Argentinian with an anti-tank rocket but this was not the end of the problem for L/Cpl Carver, who was now under fire again.

He did his best to squeeze his large, 6ft 1ins frame into a hole and began firing back at the Argentinians with his rifle, living up to the motto of the paratroopers, Utrinque Paratus - Ready for Anything.

He said: "I started to return fire even though I had been hit - the adrenalin and survival instinct took over. The blood was coming out of my nose and mouth.

"There were bullets hitting around me - one went through my equipment. A bullet hit one of my grenades but it didn't go off.

"It was then that Terry Bowdell and Chris Masterman dragged me out, totally disregarding their own safety. I haven't seen them since."

Mr Carver, now a dog handler with West Mercia police, admits he has never talked about his experiences with 3 Para in such depth before because of the trauma of revisiting his memories.

The injuries, which still cause him pain today, marked the end of the war for him as he was stretchered to the aid post, enemy shells exploding all around him.

Because one of his lungs had been damaged he could not be given morphine and was left in excruciating pain while one of his friends, who had been given the drug, began to sing as the effects took hold.

After what became known as the Battle of Mount Longdon, on June 11 and 12, the rest of the men pushed towards the capital Port Stanley for the finishing blow as Britain retook the Falklands.

His best friend James Doc' Murdoch, who once took the young L/Cpl Carver under his wing, was shot in the head by a sniper during the battle.

L/Cpl Carver's son, James, aged 25, is named after the man who would have been his godfather had he lived.

Before L/Cpl Carver was injured, paratroopers had walked into a minefield at the base of Mount Longdon as they tried to advance in silence at the very beginning of the battle.

Corporal Brian Milne stood on a mine, which blew his legs off. The explosion alerted the Argentinians, who strafed the rocks with heavy machine gun fire from bunkers above.

Red tracers from the paratroopers and green ones from the Argentinians criss-crossed the sky in a macabre firework display as A and B company advanced.

Once they had secured Mount Longdon by seizing enemy bunkers and gun positions, troops were joined by a Royal Navy gunfire officer co-ordinating attacks from ships stationed offshore.

Mr Carver was nearly killed by artillery shells from his own side. He said: "The first shell landed 30 feet in front of us. The captain then started running and shouted, Run! There's another four in the air yet.' They landed where we had been sitting."

During the battle, 21 UK soldiers were killed and 64 wounded compared with 100 Argentinians.

Mr Carver said: "We all knew people were going to die. You don't go into something like that without knowing that. You say I will see you at the end' but you know you won't be seeing some of them again. The battle was textbook - we fought through with the bayonet, the bullet and with grenades."

Mr Carver, who is aged 47 and has two sons, James, aged 25, and Joe, aged 19, was awarded the South Atlantic Medal and was also mentioned in dispatches.

He became a police dog handler and trainer with West Mercia police in 1990 and also was a Worcester city beat officer for four years.

He is attending a parade in London to commemorate the war where he will meet up with other former soldiers.