WWII airmen remembered

President Eddie Fenech Adami lays a wreath at the base of the Air Force Memorial in Floriana recalling the 2,351 airmen who lost their lives at sea during WWII. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

More than 2,300 airmen who died at sea during World War II were remembered yesterday during a short ceremony by the Air Force Memorial, in Floriana.

The golden eagle at the top of the memorial gleamed in the afternoon sun as dignitaries and members of the Royal British Legion's Kimbolton Branch paid their respects to the fallen airmen from various countries for whom there is no known grave.

None of the members whose names are written on the memorial were Maltese.

"Let us remember those who have died for their country at war," Canon Tom Mendel, the chancellor of the Anglican Cathedral, said.

President Eddie Fenech Adami was among those who laid a wreath at the foot of the memorial, which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth in 1954.