A 95-year-old American war veteran is looking for Maltese friends he met 70 years ago, when he was deployed on the island to repair aircraft.

Herb Tollefson, from Marysville, Washington, was 24 when he was sent to Malta as part of a group of 14 mechanics on detached service.

These mechanics from the 26th Air Depot Group in Deversoir, Egypt, “took wrecked planes from the scrapyard to the sky”, the retired sergeant told Times of Malta during his first visit in seven decades.

“We landed in spring of 1943, and the first thing that I noticed – and the one I remember the most – is how kind the Maltese were.

“I most of all remember Ninu Borg – who was around my age – Mike the cook and young ‘Yank’ who waited on customers at the Melita Bar, at the Ferries, in Sliema.

“And of course, Carmelo Borg, who owned the bar and the house we lived in,” Mr Tollefson said, pointing at each person caught in black-and-white on photographs he took that year.

Mr Tollefson came to Malta this week with three of his five children, a son-in-law, a grandson, and the daughter of his late best friend Robert Connor to look for this group of Maltese people.

But the Malta he remembers is gone.

One thing that hasn’t changed for sure is how nice and kind the people are

“I don’t recognise anything in Sliema. I remember it as a quiet and nice place,” he said, adding that instead of the Melita bar, he found a high-rise glass building and apartments.

“But one thing that hasn’t changed for sure is how nice and kind the people are. I am grateful that my children encouraged me to take this trip. I am glad that we came because this visit has brought back so many fond memories.”

The mechanics were initially sent to repair an airplane forced down on the island following a raid on mainland Europe.

Before this mission was complete, however, additional aircraft landed at Luqa and in the first six months, the young men returned more than 50 aircraft back to service.

“That year, the Mediterranean was full of Germans ready to shoot down anything. I remember Malta was really hot and the Luqa Field we were based at was very busy.

“The Germans would bomb the field anytime we had aircraft there so we needed to repair them quickly,” he recalled.

The men would return home by bus, covered in grease, and take it in turns to shower in the two-bedroom house owned by Carmelo Borg.

Mr Tollefson believes this accommodation was the best they experienced when overseas. Once a month their rations would arrive from Egypt and they gave them to the Maltese cook at the Melita bar.

“We ate like kings on white linen tablecloths, and shared candy bars with the children.”

Mr Tollefson remembers nights in Sliema when the Germans attacked the nearby harbour and the young men went up on their roof to watch the bombing.

“Our Maltese neighbours who took shelter underground thought we were crazy, but it was pretty exciting for us young men... that is, apart from one time when a bomb fell close by and hurt Mr Borg.

“We rushed down to the shelter and heard people whispering “l-Amerikani” – we felt ashamed that we were down there dodging the bombs instead of fighting... but we were just mechanics,” he said, his eyes brimming.

During his stay in Malta, Mr Tollefson also became friends with a police officer called John Mifsud. The officer once told him that whenever the German bombs fell in the bay, they stunned the fish.

Afterwards, the officer would row his boat out and pick the floating fish.

Mr Tollefson was ordered to return to Deversoir in December 1943, and although when he went home in 1945 he tried to forget the war, he could not forget the happy times on the island and the friends he made here. His search to be reunited with these men has been unsuccessful so far, but the family is urging anyone who knows something about the former Melita Bar in Sliema, or the men Mr Tollefson remembers, to get in touch.

His daughter Sandra Raynor can be contacted on skraynor@gmail.comor +00120 6437 6424.