Event to mark George Cross presentation

david calleja urry

Aug 22nd 2010, 23:55

Get a life Flynn - stop preaching to people who aren't interested in your views - why don't you take it up in Qz ?... that is where you live le?... see how the Aussies would enjoy being told what to do...lol

William P Flynn

Apr 14th 2009, 04:31

MrCallejaUrry. If 60 years ago you saw our new president as a toddler, pointed to him and said that little child will one day be President of the Republic of Malta; they would have called the men in white, tossed you in a van and taken you for a nice holiday at H - Attard.

Any Englishman nearby would have likely killed himself laughing at the very notion.

The President of the Republic of Malta 50 years hence has probably just entered high school.

Now then, can anyone believe our Maltese President to wake up one fine morning and just go ahead and remove the GC from the Maltese flag?

Yet we allowed a FOREIGNER to draw it on and deliver the ultimate insult to our Sacred Cloth; and then unthinkingly writing that sacrilege into our Constitution.

William P flynn

Apr 14th 2009, 00:53

MrCallejaUrry, I am aware what the MEDAL represents and I am proud of what it did to and meant for the Maltese.

But, sacrifices were soon forgotten; the Brits still locked us out of the post-war US Marshall Aid program while they gorged on it themselves; and and left Malta to scratch and scrape while the ex-Nazis and the ex-Fascists rebuilt their countries and economies with the immense US Marshall Aid Program.

When Dr Boffa and his deputy, young Dom Mintoff, went to Whitehall asking for inclusion in the Marshall Aid Program, they were offered loans. The hurt and fury of our representatives wouldn't be hard to imagine!
There is no record that the question whether Britain would accept the GC medal as collateral for such loans was asked; although I suspect an uncomfortable place where the English gentleman across the table could insert the medal would have been suggested by at least one of the two Maltese gentlemen.

For the life of me, I can't work out why people of intelligence still cannot make the distinction between receiving a medal by a foreigner and then allowing that foreigner to draw it on our Sacred Flag.

Joseph Vella

Apr 14th 2009, 00:30

The sole issue is not the symbolic meaning of the GC awarded Malta for bravery under fire in WWII, but in the unconstitutional heavy handed manner its image was hoisted on Malta’s traditional flag. What does it take to make people like David Calleja understand the full implication of altering a nation’s colors without proper authorization from the Maltese, or their duly appointed representatives. The switch came about with a unilateral decision of Lord Gort, without recourse to legal proceedings.

In his appreciation for Malta’s selfish sacrifice in the cause of freedom, Gerry Cowie conveniently forgets to mention that Malta was dragged into WWII, had neither cause nor reason to fight the Axis, except as a bastion for British naval supremacy within the Mediterranean. There was nothing for Malta to gain and everything to lose by the needless expenditure of life and destruction of property, sacrificed in defense of Britain’s already faltering empire.

The solution to the dilemma is to give due homage to the GC medal as a token of British gratitude for Malta’s enforced heroic role in the line of fire, while reclaiming its true red and white flag, unblemished by vestiges of repression under foreign colonialism.

david calleja-urry

Apr 13th 2009, 19:58

Mr. Flynn. The George Cross symbolises an act of endurance & bravery by a population in the face of facist & nazi regimes - with all due respect, neither you, nor anyone else for that matter has the right to remove that from our history - irrespective of who gave what to whom, people in my family, like so many others, died under the nazi bombs, it is an insult to their memory. Incidentally, look at the mess the world is in, almost all of it created in Republics - i wouln't jump up & down for joy in the name of being a republic... and yes Mr Cowie can never be King...but if you really, honestly believe that you or anyone in Malta can become President - then I'd ask where you've been living since 1979...!!

Oscar Cassar

Apr 13th 2009, 19:54

Mr. W.P. Flynn please note that Malta is part of the Commonwealth and therefore, although a republic, we still have connections with the British monarchy. What I do not agree on is the face that for the second time we (taxpayers) are commemorating this event with the excuse that it can attract tourists, BUT we barely commemorate the events like 7th June 1919 (90th anniversary this year), those exiled to Uganda during WWII (still we have no monument to commemorate such persons) while instead we have commemorative objects for other insignificant things like the resurfacing of Republic Street in Valletta. Another person to mention is Carmelo Borg Pisani, a person that our politicians are as if ‘ashamed’ to mention.

William P Flynn

Apr 13th 2009, 12:50

GerryCowie. Malta is a Republic - it has NO king. A monarchy is the very antithesis of a republic; which your country Britain might become one day when you shake off your caste system of blood.

You will NEVER be king; but every Maltese has the chance of becoming President. Long live the Maltese Republic. Down with monarchies.

Gerry Cowie

Apr 13th 2009, 10:33

Thankyou, Malta for your great and selfless sacrifice in the cause of freedom!!
One wonders if this event will be hijacked by those few vociferous people who feel that the Maltese flag is blighted by the inclusion of this honour bestowed by the King upon the whole of Malta! Will they now show their true colours as the chip on their shoulders becomes ever more heavy?