Today, Battle of Malta veterans will be greeted at the Malta International Airport by re-enactment teams dressed in period costumes.

Some of the arrivals will no doubt laugh, others will cry and some will be just overjoyed to be in Malta. 300 of these gallant, elderly men, will be here to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Malta. Yet while these men will no doubt partake in some leisure time and enjoy taking part in the ceremonies, one is certain that once they are actually walking to the war memorial or placing their wreaths, the true significance of where they are and what they are doing will hit them.

It has been seen all too often. Former crack commandoes have been seen breaking down into tears at such military commemorations. Once they stop to reflect, the stiff upper lip goes and these brave men are suddenly overcome by grief as they relive the terrible times they had to experience during war. They remember their dead buddies who died at their sides, often in their arms. It truly is a moving and poignant reminder of what these men did for the generations that came after them.

Of course, some of these men will be reunited for the first time since they were stationed in Malta. Friendships will be rekindled and tales will be swapped. Others may even attempt to track down Maltese families and friends that they knew during World War II.

It is indeed a shame. This generation of men suffered tremendously and they did all they could for us. They did it for Malta and, at the time of conflict, they did it for humanity. It is all too easy in times of peace and prosperity to forget that WWII was a tragedy for Europe.

Genocide, war crimes, indiscriminate bombing of cities are just a few things to mention. Of course, people of younger generations cannot even begin to imagine what life must have been for these soldiers, the people of Malta and the people of Europe, no matter what country they were from. It is 60 years since the end of conflict, yet we, as humans, must continue to remember this unfortunate and tumultuous time in our history.

We should not let these memories die. These veterans are all getting old. Some are octogenarians and some are older than that. We can have as many monuments and ceremonies as we want. And while the soldiers do want to see these ceremonies being kept alive, what they truly want is for us – and subsequent generations – to remember the suffering and struggle that was WWII.

And why do they want us to remember? The answer is simple. It is not so much to remember their own bravery, they want us to remember the horror so it never happens again. Each and every veteran will tell you that their lives were shaped by the horrors of war that no person should ever see or go through again.

We must make sure that the memory lives on. These men will not live for much longer, and we must preserve the memory of what they have done for us. We must also remember what Maltese soldiers and anti-aircraft gunners went through and did for the country.

We must also remember the courageous dock workers that toiled day and night to repair ships and saved the Ohio tanker from sinking once it arrived in harbour to bring oil to our country during its greatest time of need. We should not only honour foreign soldiers, we should pay a bit more attention to our own men who lived, served and died for us.

We can only truly appreciate where we are today, in times of prosperity and relative peace of mind, if we think back to what nearly happened to Europe 60 years ago. If one really thinks hard, it is amazing to see how far this continent, ravaged by war for centuries, if not millennia, has come.