Malta war veteran tells of emotional reunion

One of the WWII veterans who came to Malta last month to take part in the Heroes Return - Air Battle of Malta Reunion has an unusual connection with the island.

Henry Dickens, 87, known as Harry to his friends, recounted an episode that still bears heavy on his heart.

At 18 he joined the army because of a dearth of jobs at the time and as the saying went, "joining the army got you three square meals a day and a pair of boots".

Mr Dickens, who is a Cockney from Hackney, arrived here in 1938 with the army as a gunner with the Tenth Battery of the 7th Heavy AckAck Artillery Regiment and was billeted at Tigné Barracks.

A year later he was stationed at Manoel Island.

Among the Maltese girls who used to go to the open-air dance at Tigné Barracks were a threesome by the names of Jessie, Mary and Lina Grech who lived in St Dominic Street, Sliema.

Jessie and Harry started courting and when they went out together they were chaperoned by her sisters.

During the seven months of courting their love took them a step further and they got married, staying with Jessie's mother in Sliema.

"My wife used to go up on the roof and wave a white handkerchief to me while I was at work on Manoel Island," he said with a half smile.

Mr Dickens' eyes light up again as he recalls that "Jessie's mother was good company, always liked a joke and didn't interfere at all".

The young gunner left Malta with the army in April 1944 leaving his wife and their month-old-son James here but they were to follow him soon after.

Seemingly weighing each word, Mr Dickens told how his wife and son then followed him to Hackney to live with his mother, Alice.

"As it happened, one of the first V1 flying bombs to fall on London killed my mother, my wife and son James, my sister Martha and nephew Norman among others."

Mr Dickens was then stationed on Orkney island close to Scotland and he learned the bad news by telegram. The army allowed him to return to London to sort things out.

"I could not believe the news and neither did Jessie's family. I had a terrible job telling Jessie's mother. She only started to believe it after she phoned the police and the parish priest".

He did not keep contact with Jessie's family even though he returned to Malta in 1974 for the first armed forces reunion and has visited Malta 12 times since.

"I never plucked up the courage to go and visit the house in Sliema or try to contact my Maltese in-laws."

During his second visit to Malta in 1974, looking up the list of WWII veterans who had come to the island for a reunion, he came across the name of George Nolan who was posted with him here during the war.

The two met again during the Siege Bell memorial inauguration in 1992 with Mr Dickens being accompanied by his son Keith from his second marriage and Mr Nolan by his son John.

It was in fact John Nolan who nudged Mr Dickens to go round to Sliema to see the house where he used to live with his wife and in-laws. Mr Nolan, who seems to have the knack of making things happen, knocked on the door and as his sister-in-law Lina came round to see who it was, she flew out of the door and embraced Harry, telling him her family had always thought he had been killed during the war because they had never heard from him.

Lina told him she had thought she had seen him at Tony's Bar at the Ferries in Sliema in 1974 but believed it could not be him.

Mr Dickens said Tony's Bar was an old haunt of his and his mates and he visited the watering hole frequently in 1974.

Mr Dickens, who had to change his religion from Protestant to Roman Catholic to be able to marry Jessie, was known by her family as Billy, a pet name. Jessie had another sister Censina and two brothers, Victor and Tony.

After the war, Mr Dickens was demobbed and joined civvy street as a chauffeur with the big bosses at the British Steel Corporation from where he retired aged 63.

Mr Dickens remembers certain aspects of Maltese life and vocabulary that he still relishes.

"The inbid, the plonk was a deadly drink; fis-sakra - you got drunk on it quick.

"As soon as the navy made port, prices went through the ceiling. Things that normally sold for 30 shillings went up to a pound.

'We experienced a lot of attacks on Manoel Island. During an air attack, a two-ton bomb went through the roof of the barracks and didn't explode but it crushed one of the men to death.

"Another time, the breach of one of the guns we were firing burst and as I ducked, a piece of shrapnel killed one of my mates instantly. We lost five men during that raid.

"But Malta was a good posting. They were happy days, then," he added as George Nolan, sitting next to him, nodded in agreement.