I have followed, on and off, the correspondence on Fr Wistin Born but I do not remember seeing any reference to his war-time service.

Fr Born was the chaplain of 2nd Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment, Royal Malta Artillery right through the war. He was in army uniform and held the rank of captain.

He used to say Mass at the gun-sites in the open so that those on duty could also participate.

One Sunday at Nadur (Dwejra Ridge) HAA gun position, the Mass was only half way through when a heavy air-raid started and we had, of course, to leave to man the guns. He carried on saying Mass while the guns fired away but I suspect that he took one or two small short cuts.

He and I shared the same mess at il-Gillieru, St Paul's Bay in 1943 and at tal-Handaq in 1944. It was at that time that I got to know him better and to enjoy his great sense of humour. At St Paul's Bay I met his brother who was totally blind and worked as a piano tuner.

In September 1943, accompanied by his batman, he had to go out in a rowing boat to administer the last rites to an Italian seaman and bury him at sea. The corpse had been found floating outside St Paul's Bay. They returned after two or three hours in bright moonlight having had quite a problem to sink the corpse. His detailed description of the problem they had encountered is still very vivid in my mind. He officiated at my marriage at St Gregory's in Sliema on November 28, 1946.