Simon Weston became the symbol of Britain's war in the Falklands, but while 30 years have not erased the scars, he bears no grudge against Argentina's people, only their rulers.

On June 8, 1982, six days before Argentina surrendered, Weston was on board the military transport ship "Sir Galahad" at Fitzroy, south of the capital Stanley, ready with the other troops to land on the Falkland Islands.

But Argentine jets bombed the vessel, which was loaded with ammunition and fuel, killing 48 people including 38 of his colleagues in the Welsh Guards regiment, in the deadliest single attack on British servicemen of the war.

Weston, who was only 20 at the time, survived despite suffering burns to 46 percent of his body.

Three decades and more than 80 operations later, Weston's expressive blue eyes still look out from a mask of disfiguring scar tissue, but he says the worst is behind him.

"I never thought I would die. I wanted to at one time, but I never thought I would," the 50-year-old told AFP in the well-lit sitting room of his house in a leafy suburb of the Welsh capital Cardiff.

"I may have been the worst injured to come back alive, but it hasn't been the worst thing that ever happened to me. There have been many, many pluses to have come out of it."

The Welsh son of a Royal Air Force pilot and a nurse, Weston joined the army at the age of 16 after "getting into trouble" and served in Germany, Northern Ireland and Kenya.

After the Falklands he has said he tried to commit suicide and then found refuge in alcohol. But today, he says he has stopped drinking.

Despite everything that has happened, Weston says he has no problems with the people of Argentina.

"I've got friends from Argentina, I know people from Argentina, I've worked with them and I'm even friends with the guy who blew me up. So I don't dislike Argentinian people. I just dislike their politicians," he said.

As part of the mental healing process, as well as making several trips back to the windswept islands in the South Atlantic, Weston agreed in 1991 to meet Argentine pilot Carols Cachon.

"In all the nightmares I had about the ship blowing up and the fire and seeing friends die, his eyes were just soulless, they were empty... And I just wanted to put life and put light into those eyes to see what they were," he said, gesturing with his scarred hands.

"And Carlos is an incredible nice and kind and gentle man. He just had a job to do. But until I met him I could not see his eyes."

But Weston cannot forgive the Argentine government of the time for what he calls an "illegal, unjustified military action" -- and he has harsh words for Argentina's current president, Cristina Kirchner.

"She keeps blowing far too hard and she is going to lose," he said.

"They've impounded the Falklands fishing fleet, they've harassed supply vessels, tourist ships, getting the dockworkers to cause problems, threatening to overfish. All of those things, they're aggressive.

He said Kirchner's stance had left Falkland Islanders themselves in a state of constant fear.

"We wouldn't allow animals to be treated like this, to be harassed and continually bullied and to be mentally tortured by the fact they could be continually invaded," he said.

After his miraculous survival Weston became something of a celebrity in Britain, a development he found difficult at first but which he has come to appreciate.

He has featured in six documentaries, written three volumes of memoirs, two novels and three children's books, and now the former solider is a popular lecturer.

In 1988 he founded Weston Spirit, a group for disadvantaged youths, although it was forced to close during the financial crisis. But it was there that he met his life Lucy, who was working as a volunteer.

The couple will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary in May and have three children aged between 14 and 20, and a grandson of six months.

Despite the trauma he went through in the Falklands, Weston considers himself "fortunate".

"It was a defining moment of my life. It set in place a chain reaction of things that happened over the last 30 years, but I've benefited from it dramatically," said Weston, who was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 for his charity work.

But his work is not finished yet. For his next project, Weston is standing in an election in November as a police commissioner in South Wales -- a new position created in several parts of Britain by Prime Minister David Cameron.

"I've never had a regular job since I left the army. I am kind of excited," he said.