President recalls suffering in Middle East, Ukraine at event marking 82 years since Santa Marija convoy

The Maltese have a “constitutional duty to actively pursue peace”, President Myriam Spiteri Debono said during a ceremony marking the 82nd anniversary of the Santa Marija convoy.

In a short but poignant speech, Spiteri Debono said it would be a “waste of time and pointless” to remember the hardship of the Second World War if people are “not moved by the injustice of war and of the armed conflict situations prevailing around the world today”.

“The suffering of the populace, in the Middle East, as well as the war in Ukraine, are reminders that humanity has not yet forsaken violence and atrocity but is still employing atrocity and violence, fostering more hatred instead of reconciliation,” she said.

The commemorative ceremony organised by the Malta George Cross branch of the Royal British Legion was held at the Grand Harbour in Valletta.

The ceremony marked the 82nd anniversary of the Second World War convoy, known as Operation Pedestal, that saw a flotilla of ships traverse the Mediterranean to bring important supplies to Malta. Only five of the 14 merchant ships reached the Grand Harbour, heavily crippled by enemy fire.

The Maltese referred to the maritime operation as the Santa Marija Convoy since the ships made landfall on the day Malta celebrates the feast of the Assumption, better known as Santa Marija. Today, 15 August is a public holiday.

“We Maltese re-christened Operation Pedestal ‘il-Konvoj ta’ Santa Marija’, endowing it with religious overtones, since because of the dire situation which prevailed in 1942, in our ancestors’ eyes the safe arrival of fuel and other supplies seemed to be due to a Marian miracle. This does not seem at all far-fetched, when one remembers that only five of the 14 merchant ships reached the Grand Harbour; suffice it to say that certain writers refer to this convoy operation as the last Axis victory in the Mediterranean. If this was a numerical success for the Axis, it was a strategic victory for the Allies, since it averted famine and dire straits of more want for the Maltese and the surrender of the island fortress, in which circumstances seemed inevitable,” Spiteri Debono said, reflecting on the occasion.

However, she said it would be pointless to mark the day without reflecting on what is happening today in the world.

“To be worthy of our forefathers, to ensure that their loss of life and limb, their suffering during the Second World War were not wasted, the present Maltese generations, regardless of our small size and resources have a constitutional duty to actively pursue peace and strive for harmony in a world which is witnessing a resurgence of human suffering, a perpetuation of brutality by humans against humans, resort to weapons of war instead of discussion and dialogue as tools for achieving and maintaining peace. We owe a moral debt to our ancestors, to combat this trend,” she said.

The President than boarded an Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat from where commemorative wreaths were thrown into the sea in remembrance of those who lost their life during Operation Pedestal.

 “Today, as we commemorate the eighty second anniversary of Operation Pedestal, we also celebrate the stamina and resilience of the Maltese population and the British Forces and remember the dashed lives and hopes deprived of realizing their full potential, of those who died in the process of fighting for victory,” the President said.