The names of Anne Rossi, formerly Mallia, and Frances Kane, formerly McNerney, did not initially ring any bells for two elderly women who had not seen each other in over 70 years.

But when they were brought face to face, their eyes sparkled as they embraced tightly amidst delighted squeals, recognising each other as former plotters working to defend the country in Valletta’s Lascaris War Rooms during World War II.

In last Tuesday’s edition of Times of Malta, Ms Rossi, who will turn 93 next month, shared her memories of her time spent as a young woman in the 1940s carefully charting the enemy’s progress through the skies with great precision. The work of the plotters, who were all civilian women, was crucial in helping to direct Royal Air Force pilots to the best possible position to intercept the enemy.

When she recently saw the advert of the Staġun Teatru Malti play Faith, Hope u Charity, Ms Rossi picked up the phone and called veteran actress Karmen Azzopardi, who plays the lead character, to tell her that she remembered the real-life officers on whom the play is based.

In the wake of the interview, Ms Kane’s daughter contacted this newspaper, since her mother, who will turn 91 in September, also worked as a plotter. The Sunday Times of Malta arranged for the two to reunite after a 73-year separation.

Ms Kane opened her purse to reveal an old photograph of herself as a young woman and showed it to Ms Rossi, who let out a squeal.

“I remember you!” Ms Rossi laughed, in turn showing Ms Kane an old photograph of herself.

I remember stuffing my bosom with toffees and chocolates to take home to my Maltese mother

“I remember you, too!” Ms Kane exclaimed. “Look at you. You never changed.”

The reunion was emotional as the pair reminisced about a time of hardship and suffering, but also about a job which brought them both great fulfilment and happiness.

Ms Rossi recalled sneaking to the NAAFI hut for a hot cup of tea and some chocolate.

“Do you remember there was a large office – it belonged to a top-ranking official. He used to call us over and give us all sorts of treats. We always used to tell him ‘bye’ when passing in front of his office to make sure he sees us,” Ms Rossi chuckled.

“Of course I remember,” Ms Kane replied. “I remember stuffing my bosom with toffees and chocolates to take home to my Maltese mother. I used to leave the place with my chest twice as big as when I had arrived!”

Despite the jokes and fun times, the girls worked diligently and attentively in the RAF operations room for a job which required a high degree of skill and maximum level of concentration.

Wearing headphones, they would be fed information on approaching aircraft, which they plotted onto a table, consisting of a large map marked with grid squares and posts.

Counters were placed on the map at the reported positions, each of which indicated the height and the number of aircraft reported. Overseeing the operations from the gallery above would be the controller and his team, who would be in radio contact with the pilots and would direct them to the best possible position to intercept the enemy.

Ms Kane used to defiantly paint her nails red, despite being reprimanded numerous times for it. On the plotting table, red arrows were used to signify the approaching enemy,

“While I was plotting, the controller would flip out because, from above, my red nails could easily be mistaken for the arrows. He would smack his forehead and say: ‘I can’t see where you’re plotting. McNerney, when you come in here, you are to cover your nails! Anything except red.’ But I used to paint them anyway,” she said with a mischievous giggle.

However, theirs was a top secret job which they took very seriously. They were strictly forbidden from imparting the information they knew with outsiders.

“Whether we were sick or not, we had to be taken to the War Rooms during the air raid,” Ms Kane recalled.

“You could be sick with fever but you had to stay there. They’d bring you the MO [medical officer] and they’d give you your own room. They’d tell you: ‘We’ll take care of you but you can’t stay at home.’ During the air raid, they didn’t want to risk us telling others what we knew or what we thought was going on.”

During the air raid, they didn’t want to risk us telling others what we knew or what we thought was going on

Laughing, the two women pooh-poohed the Italians and their scaredy-cat behaviour.

“The Italians were afraid of their own shadow,” Ms Rossi said.

“As soon as they sensed the first shot, they would dash off. They were terrified of us!”

“The Germans on the other hand would identify their targets carefully,” Ms Kane interjected. “They were very precise. Those were terrifying times.”

Outside of the safety of the War Rooms, the two women brushed up against danger numerous times.

One day, Ms Rossi was returning from her shift when a mine, which had gone unnoticed, exploded with a massive blast in Tower Road, Sliema.

“I went running towards it – I didn’t care. I found two boys dying.

“I ran home and phoned my father [who was the only Maltese squadron leader then] and he dispatched several doctors and ambulances.

“We saved two people that day.”

Ms Kane recalled a time when the plotters operated from Ħal Far, describing an incident which could have ended badly.

A bus would pick the girls up to take them to their shift. However, the night before, a group of pilots got drunk and, as a result, missed their own bus.

They decided to hop onto the plotter girls’ one instead.

Unbeknownst to them, robbers had decided to make the plotters’ bus their target.

“Us girls would have rings, earrings and jewellery they could steal. The bus had to stop to remove the stones left purposely in the road.

“But whoever planned on robbing us didn’t spring out of hiding  they had no chance of robbing us with all those pilots next to us.”

A ringing telephone interrupted the conversation. It was Albert, Ms Rossi’s son, phoning from abroad.

She excitedly told him that a fellow plotter was at her house, visiting her.

“We’re reminiscing about those times. They are precious memories.”

Faith, Hope u Charity runs tonight, on July 29 and 31 and on August 1 and 2.