As a temporary resident in Gozo, I have gained a fleeting knowledge of Malta’s long and, at times, turbulent history.

My father served in the Royal Navy. He spoke little about his wartime experience but I know he made two convoy escort trips to the Mediterranean on a destroyer. I am amazed to think that such a small spot on the world map was so vital in the fight to save Western Europe from the terror of Nazism and the scourge of Fascism.

I was a small boy living in London at the outbreak of WWII and I remember the nightmares of the blitz. Yet, unlike Malta, Britain was generally well defended and its people adequately fed at all times.

Even today, it is difficult to imagine the horror and terrorof constant bombardment and the privations that the citizensof Malta experienced duringthe siege.

To say that these islands saved much of the world from totalitarian rule is no overstatement. The Mediterranean would have been lost, along with North Africa and the Suez Canal.

Without Malta’s sacrifice, Britain and its allies would almost certainly have lost the war in 1941 and the course of European history would have taken a sinister turn.

Now, 70 years later, I would like to thank the Maltese people for fighting so hard to ensure that my family can now live ina free and democratic society rather than under the heel ofthe jackboot.

The world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Malta GC.