Moments such as these are always so moving, watching veterans commemorate and celebrate the lives, and of course deaths, of their colleagues.

Yesterday being Santa Marija, The Malta Independent decided to put together an issue of the paper that pays homage to those people who lost their lives during WWII, particularly those who died in Operation Pedestal, the last (many believed futile) gamble to save Malta from surrender to the Axis forces.

But before going into the merits and great superhuman deeds that many men performed during that most gallant run, we also take a look at other aspects of war and survivability. One of our journalists came across a story about the HMAS Sydney, which sank, also in WWII, just off Australia, taking all hands with it. A Maltese crewman went down with the ship and only one body was ever recovered. It was thought possible that this may have been that of the Maltese man and as a result, the Australian authorities announced that they were trying to contact any of his living relatives in order to obtain permission for DNA testing. Lo and behold, we received a phone call from an elderly man who said he was the sole surviving relative and that, after having read our story, the matter was now being dealt with by the Australian High Commission. This man was on the same ship, on its penultimate voyage. He was spared. (See story on page 5).

When one speaks to elderly men and women who recall their losses during the war, the feeling is palpable – one of timeless grief. Of course at the time, these people were simply fighting for their lives – they were not directly fighting for us. But fight for us they did and they gave us the lives we know today.

Back to the Operation Pedestal vets – the

picture carried on the front page of this newspaper yesterday speaks volumes.

War veteran Allan Shaw, who served on the Santa Marija Convoy’s SS Ohio, joined other vets on Tuesday evening on board an Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat for a remembrance ceremony out at sea. He was caught on camera throwing a small bunch of flowers into the water. Exactly what was going through his head at the time, we can only imagine. But we suspect that those memories were of sheer terror, desperation and sadness at the loss of so many comrades in arms.

On today’s back page, we have a story about an AFM patrol boat being sunk off Cirkewwa for leisure diving purposes. We are not going “No War” on you, but there is a message to convey in this. We have celebrated (or should have) two events over the past days – the arrival of the convoy and, of course, the feast itself. But did any of us, especially the younger generation, think of the sacrifices that our forebears made in those dark, dark times? We are not only talking about the soldiers and sailors who died in battle. We are also talking about those civilians who died, those who suffered so much and went to bed hungry with rumbling bellies deep in the stone underground.

Yes, we live in a consumer society where, quite frankly, anything goes. We have it easy, we get funds from Europe, we have the welfare state, free health care and a good standard of living.

But perhaps we should sometimes take stock of ourselves and our nation’s story – and perhaps by going back and understanding what people gave up to give us the Malta (and the world) we have today, we might make better people of ourselves. Yes, it might have been inadvertent, but sinking that small obsolete military vessel in Cirkewwa is a fitting salute to all those who died in wartime.