TWENTY years ago a young Sutton sailor made the Herald headlines. Graham Wild, then 17, was serving on the HMS Ardent when it was sunk during the Falklands conflict.

Mr Wild was among the survivors, and in November he will make his way back with a contingent of veterans, relatives and the national press to pay his respects and lay some ghosts to rest.

HMS Ardent was sunk off the Falklands on May 21 1982. She was hit 17 times in the space of 22 minutes as she made a run into the Falkland Sound, an hour ahead of the British amphibious group about to retake the islands.

One in four of the 320-man crew was wounded or killed. It was the highest casualty rate of the entire war.

The Herald reported at the time how Mr Wild's parents, Geoff and Janet, had waited by the phone for news of their son. Ten hours passed before the Ministry called, saying Graham Wild was among the survivors.

However, he had been hit by flying shrapnel and had sustained lacerations to the scalp. Today, his memory of events, both during the attack and of his life before, is very limited.

He told the Herald: "I have large proportions of blank in my life. People I went to school with come up to me in the street and I haven't got a clue who they are. There are certain bits of my life before the attack, I just can't remember."

Mr Wild lost all his possessions when the ship sank, including his dental and medical records. The only thing he managed to salvage was a watch, a Christmas present from his parents.

"It is as if my life just started at 17-and-a-half years old," he said.

Mr Wild had been with HMS Ardent for five weeks when the attack took place. Before joining the Navy, he had been in the sea cadets for five years and because of his age, was given the choice whether he wanted to go to the Falklands.

"It was something I wanted to do, to join the Navy," he explained. "But it is a major shock to the system. You think when you join up you are going off to see the world and then you are on your first ship, and it's going down."

Mr Wild remained with the Navy until 1990. He now lives in Cross Hills with his wife Linda and two daughters, Gabriella, 11, and Bethany, six. His mother still lives in Sutton.

Around 200 veterans and relatives are making a pilgrimage to the islands in November to mark the 20th anniversary of the conflict.

The trip has been organised by the South Atlantic Medal Association, and paid for through fundraising, national media sponsorship and members' own contributions.

It will allow veterans to pay their respects, and will also highlight the effects of post-traumatic stress on members of the armed forces.

Mr Wild said: "People in the police force and emergency services are allowed leave and can claim compensation. Members of the armed forces have to grin and bear it. At the time we had various meetings with psychiatrists, but they were just trying to talk us down. Nothing can get you over something like that.

"This will be a healing process for a lot of people. A lot of people suffer unknowingly from post-traumatic stress."

There will be a team of counsellors accompanying the pilgrimage.

"I expect there to be a lot of crying and soul searching. Twenty years on, people I have never met, break down in tears when we talk about it," Mr Wild added.

He has returned to the Falklands twice since the conflict, in 1983 and 1984, but both times with the Navy.

The conflict has had a life-changing effect on Mr Wild. He says that for around two weeks before May 21 each year, he becomes restless and cannot sleep.

"I wake up in sweats, sit up in bed, wide awake. It has had a large impact on my life, and that is for someone who was there for only a day. I can't express what went on for that six hours.

"I hope this visit will put these ghosts to rest and I would like to pay my respects to all the people who didn't come back. I felt it was time to go back and pay a visit as a mark of respect and to help me move on to a different chapter."