I refer to your news feature ‘Heroic wartime bomb hero dies’ (June 10) regarding Lt George Carroll, which included a picture of his Bomb Disposal Unit in Malta during World War II in Malta. Seen first from right in the picture is my late father, Emanuel Vella Clark of Zabbar, who was then only 20.

At the beginning of the war, my father was a first class welder at the Dockyard. In fact, during the German attack on HMS Illustrious, he was working on this naval ship welding steel plates to patch up the numerous hits this aircraft-carrier had received before it limped into Grand Harbour.

In 1942 my father was drafted into the army and assigned to the Bomb Disposal Unit under the command of Lt Carroll.

I vividly remember my father recounting how dangerous and nerve-wracking this experience was.

After the war, my father returned to the Drydocks, but in 1952 he emigrated to Australia. He returned two years later and joined the Royal Air Force as a corporal technician and retired in 1975.

My father died on December 15, 1986, aged 64.