John Pettinger

Leading 3 PARA reconnaissance patrols and guiding B Company at Mount Longdon in the Falklands War.

Sergeant John Stuart Pettinger earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal for reconnaissance and gallantry at the Battle of Mount Longdon during the 1982 Falklands War. As a four-man patrol commander in D (Patrol) Company, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (3 PARA), he repeatedly came within metres of Argentine troops to identify defensive positions and find routes for the British assault.

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Pettinger joined the British Army as a junior soldier in September 1968 at the age of 15. He was posted to 3 PARA in 1971 and joined its specialist patrol company the following year. After Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in April 1982, he deployed with the battalion and landed in the San Carlos area on 21 May.

Pettinger carried out six close reconnaissance missions around Mount Longdon. His patrols mapped routes onto the mountain and established where Argentine troops were positioned. On 8 June, he led a platoon along the planned approach in a rehearsal for the attack. Pettinger later recalled that during one reconnaissance mission, he and Private Richard “Dickie” Absolon observed the defences for hours before walking out through occupied Argentine trenches without being challenged.

On the night of 11–12 June 1982, Pettinger guided B Company to its start position. A mine explosion alerted the defenders during the advance, and the paratroopers fought through Argentine strongpoints. Pettinger continued to advise the company commander and took part in the assaults. Absolon was killed on 13 June, aged 19, and received the Military Medal posthumously. Pettinger’s Distinguished Conduct Medal was announced in The London Gazette on 8 October 1982.

Pettinger continued serving after the Falklands War, becoming a company sergeant major and later a regimental sergeant major. On 16 January 2002, he was commissioned as a captain on the Non-Regular Permanent Staff. He served with 144 Parachute Medical Squadron before retiring after 36 years in the Army.