Yesterday, the world celebrated and commemorated the 80th anniversary of the start of Operations Neptune and Overlord: the Allied liberation of Normandy, and eventually all of Nazi-occupied Europe. Those same Allies had been driven out, four years prior, by a foe who was unafraid to try new tactics, and unafraid to commit heinous, brutal acts as means to justify their end.

The same might still have happened on the small Mediterranean island of Malta, which for three long years held out in the face of relentless Axis bombardment and blockade, a whole population driven underground to escape the bombs, nearly starved by regimes which gave greater regard to strategic objectives than human lives. Week after week, month after month, British, Commonwealth, and later American convoys would run a gauntlet of dive bombers and coastal batteries to reach Valletta harbour, and keep the Maltese people alive.

For their endurance and bravery, the whole of the Maltese people was awarded the George Cross by King George VI, and the Maltese have never forgotten those nations that stuck out their necks for them in their hour of need.

Hope you enjoy!