Herb Tollefson. Photos: Jason Borg

The wartime friendship of an American corporal and a Maltese police sergeant has been sealed at Valletta’s War Museum, 70 years after the two met in Sliema.

“When I saw my father’s photograph with Herb Tollefson in the Times of Malta, I was amazed and deeply moved by their friendship,” John Mifsud Jr, the son of late police sergeant John Mifsud Sr (who died in 1972) told this newspaper yesterday.

“I thought their friendship would be best encased at the Malta War Museum just as their friendship was embodied during the war here in Malta.”

Herb Tollefson, 96, came to Malta in December looking for friends he made when he was deployed on the island to repair aircraft during World War II.

Herb Tollefson with John Mifsud Sr (left) in front of the Mosta dome.

Following Mr Tollefson’s appeal in the newspaper, the son of his wartime buddy John Mifsud flew from California, where he lives, to Washington State to meet the US war veteran.

The two decided to fly to Malta for Mr Tollefson’s 96th birthday and while the war veteran donated his US Army air corps uniform, which still fits him, Mr Mifsud Jr presented five of his father’s medals.

These include one for his police service as a sergeant, two for his contribution in World War II and two life-saving medals.

John Mifsud Jr with his father’s medals.

Mr Tollefson yesterday told this newspaper he felt “as excited as a little boy”. During his trip to Malta he also managed to meet relatives of the Borg family he was looking for. Sent to Malta as part of a group of 14 mechanics in 1943 when he was 24, Mr Tollefson was hosted at a house owned by the Borg family that also served food at the Melita Bar at the Ferries, in Sliema.

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.

But one of the best ‘fixes’ Mr Tollefson remembers was in Sicily. A damaged B-24D had a forced landing in a farmer’s melon field between Ispica and Pachino Sicily.

I thought their friendship would be best encased at the Malta War Museum

Mr Tollefson’s team was ordered to Sicily to make field repairs and get the bomber back in the air.

They slept under the wings of the bomber and cooked rations over gasoline fire. Not far off, the Allies were in the middle of Operation Husky, a large invasion of Sicily.

Two weeks on, the bomber was repaired, but the field had to be cleared of melons so that it could take off.

This short adventure in Sicily remained etched in Mr Tollefson’s memory and this week he also went to Pachino to look for the melon patch. There he was hosted at a Navy base and given a warm welcome by mayor Roberto Bruno.

Armenta Salvatore, now 78, remembered the bomber taking off from the melon patch when he was just seven. Together with historians he provided directions of the location, and although the runway does not exist anymore, the farmers still grow melons in the area.

It is now “mission accomplished” for Mr Tollefson, whose best memory of Malta 70 years ago is the “people’s kindness”.

Coincidentally, yesterday the Americans celebrated Independence Day, a federal holiday commemorating the declaration of independence from Great Britain. It is believed that during the American Revolutionary War, Maltese sailors were hired to fight the British.

Another Maltese link with this holiday is that one of the casters of the Liberty Bell – an iconic symbol of American Independence – was a founder from Cospicua: Giovanni Pace who settled down in Philadelphia in the 18th century and became known as John Pass.