Today is the feast of Santa Marija much of Malta will be incredibly sleepy as the world and his wife heads to the beach to enjoy some fun in the sun.

Most offices will be on shutdown as everyone takes a long weekend and possibly, even a break for the next week. It is a much needed break for the country. But when we pause to think, would we have had this lifestyle if it were not for the courageous men who tried to run the gauntlet and resupply Malta at the height of WWII.

In August 1942, Malta was ready to capitulate. It had only a couple of weeks of supplies in terms of weapons and fuel. The world’s biggest aircraft carrier – as Winston Churchill described Malta at the time – was about to surrender. The British forces were on the verge of eating through the last reserves. The Maltese people were starving and the bombs rained down in Valletta day after day. It was hell.

On 9 August, Operation Pedestal began. 50 ships set out from the Straits of Gibraltar and battled through a gauntlet of bombs and air attacks, E-boats and mines. Out of the flotilla, 14 ships were merchantmen. Only five made it through. But it was the SS Ohio, which limped into the Grand Harbour on this day 72 years ago, which was most feted. Its crew went over and above the call of duty to try and get the precious cargo of fuel and oil into Malta. Once it made it into harbour, Maltese crews toiled tirelessly to discharge the payload and minutes after they managed, the ship sank.

 In the end, Operation Pedestal was a success. But it cost a lot of lives – over 400. But at the same time, it saved a lot of lives. If one looks at the bigger picture, Malta’s steely determination to hold out changed the course of WWII. The British managed to get more and more supplies into Malta and it became an offensive base from which to strike the Italian navy and also as a supply chain to the battlefields of North Africa.

And that is why the story is still pertinent today. If those sailors had not risked life and limb to bring the stricken tanker under control, we probably wouldn’t be sitting on the beach today living the life we are living. It would have all been very, very different.

History is made every day. But it is extraordinary events such as the day the SS Ohio made it into Malta, that shape our lives. We should never forget that we are mere mortals and we ought to honour those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.