I admire the misplaced resilience of Charles Xuereb in combating a lost argument long ago buried. The annals of history, Maltese, British and French, record the truth. The award of the George Cross had no sinister implication of either religion or politics. For one to think so is destructive propaganda. The medal has no significance but the unexpressed gesture speaks volumes. The honour confirmed bravery and spread Malta’s name around the world. It is a reminder of the conquest against Nazi iniquities, a victory over the vandalism of the Luftwaffe, a prayer for the martyred dead, buried under mounds of rubble.

It is the memory of those survivors who participated in the war and who witnessed its atrocities and who experienced the pangs of hunger, the imminent starvation and the sleepless nights of incessant bombardments.

I speak from personal experience. I was there.

Was Xuereb there too?

To all of us who were directly involved in historical traumas, the George Cross is a feeling of pride, an emotional participation, an unforgettable mental experience that are not erased by spurious arguments made by those who forsake the national greatness for that of other countries.

The George Cross is a sign of honour like that of the Free French but unlike the jewelled sword in the Louvre. The Maltese carried the tradition of valour. They came out victorious against the Infidels.

So they did against the French – 20,000 men and women lost their lives but succeeded in besieging their enemies into surrender. Yet, the French were ashamed to surrender to the victorious Maltese but to the British. What a shame!

To the Maltese, but not to others, the George Cross means upholding the tradition of valour not tainted by historical surrender as the Infidels, Germans and French.