Unknown mass grave

I read Joe Agius's letter (August 25) on the above subject, in which he asked for more details about the incident.

In the course of my extensive research, I found the facts to be as follows: The air raid shelter was hit and destroyed on March 24, 1942, at approximately 2.30 p.m. and the number of persons taking cover there was 20, of whom 16 were airmen and four civilians.

As many who lived then will remember, the spring of 1942 was practically a continuous series of heavy air attacks on airfields, docks and adjoining towns and villages.

There were no tools with which the shelter could be excavated. When, quite a number of months later, life in Malta relatively eased up, the area around the shelter was closed and men of the Royal Military Police exhumed the bodies.

Sixteen of them, including one Maltese airman, lie at Kapuccini (Naval) Cemetery. The four civilians are buried in other cemeteries.

In the case of the airmen, the memorial stone on their grave shows March 24, 1942, this being the date of death and not the date of actual burial.

I do hope this now clarifies the situation. All the 20 names are well recorded in "Malta - Defiant and Triumphant" and in another book "Lest We Forget".