April 1942 was indeed a devastating month in Malta, as stated in the article ‘75 years from Easter Sunday bomb attack’ (April 5).

Just for the record, apart from the towns and villages mentioned in the article, one must also add Gudja, which experienced its worst day of the war.

On April 9, 75 years ago – it was a Thursday, if I recall correctly – six members of the Calleja family, aged between 30 and 65, were killed by a bomb while taking cover in their private shelter just a few metres away from where my family and I had sought refuge.

I remember the noise was so terrible and so close that all of us thought that our end was near. So much so, that the parish priest, Fr Anton Rapa, who happened to be in the same shelter with us, had asked us to kneel down and gave us absolution.

For me, then a 10-year-old evacuee, that was perhaps my worst experience of the war.

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