The letter over the signature of ex-sergeant Walter Debattista, honorary president of the 3/11 Regiment RMA(T) Association (World War II Gun Map: Unproved Declaration, February 24), in answer to mine of February 21, shows without any doubt he and his association had no inkling whatsoever of the wartime positions of the Bofors guns of 3 LAA Regiment, RMA.
The truth is quite obvious: That if it were not for the help that the association had by way of consulting my map, which I had lent to my friend and brother officer George Pace Balzan who had since passed away, nothing would have been done. Captain Pace Balzan, before he died, had returned the said map to me and I am ready to present it to a court of law should this be necessary.
The honest truth is that when the correspondent came to my house some time ago to sell me the association’s map, I protested that my name did not appear below it to give me the credit and that in fact I had passed the map to Capt. Pace Balzan. He confessed that the map was already printed and that nothing could be done. Then followed his letter of February 14 (Where Were The Guns During World War II?) which capped it all.
As for the letter Conduct Unbecoming (February 26), by John A. Consiglio, I am taking the liberty of borrowing the wording used by him in his opening paragraph: “All the former and present officers would agree that the former sergeant John A. Consiglio is absolutely wrong in his assertions expressed in his letter that I have wronged in any way the president of 3/11 Regt RMA(T).”
If one would read again the correspondence which appeared in The Times one would agree that I have the right to defend my integrity. Contrary to what was asserted by the Debattista-Consiglio tandem, I did not insult my friend Capt. Pace Balzan.
The truth of the matter is that I lent my map in question to this gentleman with the proviso that he or the association were to acknowledge this fact. This was not done by the association as in the meantime Capt. Pace Balzan had passed away.
This is in a nutshell the reason for all the correspondence appearing in this paper.
One important fact to come out of this correspondence is that while the map is in my possession, it is obvious that the association does not have one iota of proof about how they came out with their map, which is for sale and which was copied from my own map. Dr Consiglio should certainly know better, and under such circumstances, it was agreed among a circle of officers that a person writing nonsense certainly qualifies for the title of barrack-room lawyer.