As Malta gears up for the Valletta Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, yesterday marked Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day, to pay homage to all those servicemen who paid the ultimate price in giving up their lives in service to their countries.

Malta is no stranger to war. Our geographic position has always put us at the centre of conflict, dating back hundreds of years. But in a time not so long ago, Malta was known as the nurse of the Mediterranean as wounded soldiers from World War I were brought here for treatment or to convalesce following horrific injuries they sustained in the trenches of Flanders and Gallipoli.

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November in most countries to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month".

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I; their brilliant red colour became a symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

But there was another conflict where Malta paid a lot heavier price and that was in WWII. Not only did Malta raise its own units to fight for the right cause, there were many others who gave service in defending the islands during the bleakest months of the war in 1942. This is not, of course, to mention the great civilian toll on our people.

As Europe battles with the threat of extremist terrorism from the shores of North Africa and the Middle East, we must never forget that the greatest single cause of death in Europe was terror of our own making.

In WWI, the convoluted politics of the time saw all powers battle it out in a war of attrition. In WWII, the policies of a madman cause so much death and destruction that the Continent had to rebuild itself.

Those men and woman (and sometimes children) gave up their lives so we could have a better future. The generation of today is reaping the fruit of the many sacrifices by many people 70 years ago. Not many who fought in that last great conflict are alive today. Some died poor and destitute, their acts of heroism long ago forgotten as they were left to grow old and lonely.

 Others were held in high esteem by their families and looked after. But it is the poppy appeal which truly sticks out. The funds raised go towards helping veterans to live out their lives in peace and with dignity.

The consumerist and materialistic society we live in today is very different to what people 70 years ago would have known. Perhaps it is time to rewind and rediscover some of the values of old which inspired so many people to overcome oppression and terror in their homeland and abroad.