President Edward Fenech Adami unveiled the Malta Siege Memorial in Trinity Gardens, London, yesterday – 60 years to the day since fighting stopped in the Far East.

The memorial – an initiative of the George Cross Island Association – is made of Maltese stone, and was donated by the government to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the war. The Duke of Edinburgh, who is the GCIA patron, laid a wreath at the ceremony.

Following an hour-long service of thanksgiving and dedication at the church of All Hallows by the Tower, near the Tower of London, about 300 veterans, dignitaries and guests gathered in the sunshine to honour those who served in the defence of Malta during the 1940-43 siege.

Following the ceremony, the Duke left for the Imperial War Museum while President Fenech Adami was introduced to veterans of the GCIA before being piped aboard HMS Belfast for a reception.

The Duke also attended a reunion of the 14th Army veterans.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people attended the National Memorial Arboretum to commemorate VJ Day and witness the opening of a memorial building dedicated to Far East prisoners of war, the Evening Standard online reported yesterday.

Dozens of ex-servicemen, including many who toiled on the Burma and Sumatra railways, joined the families and friends of those who died during the Far East Campaign to view the new building in Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Created to resemble the jungle huts in which prisoners were kept, the wooden structure houses veterans’ memorabilia and describes the treatment of those held in captivity. It is situated next to a section of the notorious Thai-Burma railway, that was brought to the arboretum three years ago as a lasting tribute to the thousands of servicemen who died constructing it.

The opening comes three years after the founder of the Children and Families of the Far East Prisoners of War group, Carol Cooper, launched a fund-raising appeal on the 60th anniversary of the fall of Singapore to the Japanese Imperial Army.