Unknown grave at Hal-Far

Letters have appeared in The Times in the past three weeks mentioning the horrible incident at Hal-Far during the war when a number of people were trapped inside a shelter and could not be rescued. They were never given a proper burial.

I remember the times when that happened. My father worked at Hal-Far at the time and my family lived at Birzebbuga. Therefore, I was very much within hearing of what was going on.

For the benefit of younger readers I ought to explain that Hal-Far was then the airfield of the Fleet Air Arm and was officially know as the Royal Navy Air Station, Hal-Far. At the same time, about a mile down the road, there used to be the Royal Air Force Seaplane Base at Kalafrana. This was where the Freeport is now.

It was the practice then that some work from Hal-Far was detailed to the Kalafrana people who would start the job at Kalafrana and eventually take it to Hal-Far for final assembly.

As it happened, they had shelters at Kalafrana but not at Hal-Far. Workers at Hal-Far who, mostly used to be working on aircraft dispersed all over the airfield, found it sensible during an air raid to run to the edge of the cliffs to a spot, not far from Ghar Hasan, known as Ix-Xifer.

This way was found to be even more feasible when Hal-Far workers were encouraged to stay on their job during air raids when Hal-Far was not being attacked. An official used to keep a look-out and when enemy aircraft were seen headed in the direction of Hal-Far, a flare would be fired which would be a signal for workers to take cover.

When things began to hot up in 1941, the Kalafrana people protested to the authorities for not providing shelters at Hal-Far and threatened to refuse coming at all unless these were provided. In response, the authorities provided a kind of shelter commonly known as a dug-out.

It consisted of just a trench about three metres deep with a set of steps at one, or sometimes at both ends. The trench was then covered with a series of logs placed transversely and then covered with earth and rubble stone. The result was a big hump which could be seen from miles away. The smart Luftwaffe pilots were quick to spot it. They knew exactly what it was and lost no time in sending a dive bomber specifically for it.

The shelter at the time was full of Kalafrana people who came to Hal-Far just to bring in their work. It was probably their very first time down that shelter. The number mentioned at the time was 120.

Apparently, they were so badly mauled that they were extremely difficult to unearth and times being so hectic it was decided to leave them. They were very difficult times and Hal-Far was on the hit list several times a day, every day. But word about the shelter spread among the few people left in the Birzebbuga area.

I cannot forget one particular woman whose husband was among those killed. She went berserk and used to make ugly scenes in public. On one occasion, I saw her losing her temper with her son, about five or six years old and beat him savagely and uncontrollably.

By early 1943, things had quitened down considerably and my father was transferred to another part of the island. We therefore moved house and kind of lost contact with Hal-Far.

I wondered, at times, what happened to those in the shelter and assumed that with the return of peace time, they would be given a proper burial but it appears I was wrong.