George Cross: a matter of history, not culture

Awarded to Malta by the British 70 years ago last week, is the George Cross a symbol of Malta's bravery during World War II or an unwelcome reminder of Malta's status as a former British colony?

The fact that the George Cross can still be seen on the national flag remains a consistently divisive issue, cropping up every now and then in letters pages and opinion columns in newspapers and online forums.

But on that fateful day 70 years ago - 15 April, 1942 - when Malta was awarded the accolade by King George VI, it came as a morale booster to the beleaguered population... at least, that's the impression created by the original BBC report.

'The people of Malta have been awarded the George Cross in recognition of their continuing heroic struggle against enemy attack,' the report reads, going on to detail how Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe had been mercilessly bombarding the Maltese islands, 'at one point averaging seven [raids] a day'.

It was also reported that the bombing had only ever paused once for a 24-hour interval between 1 January to 24 July, 1942.

George VI delivered the award to then Governor of Malta Sir William Dobbie in a letter, where he wrote:

'To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history', to which Lieutenant-General Dobbie answered: 'By God's help Malta will not weaken but will endure until victory is won'.

An event commemorating the anniversary of the awarding of the George Cross to Malta was organised last Tuesday at St George's Square in Valletta, where Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the original medal, which is currently on display at the Malta War Museum at Fort St Elmo, Valletta, will now be moved to the Presidential Palace, where it will be on permanent display.

Also attended by the Duke of Gloucester, the event served as a reminder of the award's enduring importance to Maltese history, while not perhaps being indicative of the discomfort some may feel about the George Cross still appearing on our flag.

Historian Henry Frendo sees the award in sober terms, describing its significance as being "more historical than cultural".

"The George Cross is a historical fact recognising collective valour in a unique world war pitting two ideologically opposed camps: simply put, the democratic against the totalitarian. It ended up as part of the Maltese flag, courtesy of King George VI, quite exceptionally. Its blue background was removed and replaced by a silver lining at Independence in 1964 to remove any impression that the Maltese national flag reproduced the British colours," Frendo said, adding that he believes too much fuss is made about Cross by British veterans and certain element in the media.

"But I don't agree we should start fiddling with the flag now, when we have not even been able to agree on a national day..."

Frendo also contended that other wartime tragedies and events are arguably more deserving of commemoration than the awarding of the George Cross, such as the destruction of St Publius Church, or the bomb which went through Mosta Dome and hit the ground without blowing up the entire congregation.

"Both events are being duly commemorated at this time in the respective parishes by the communities (naturally without the media coverage reserved for the George Cross). The destruction of the Royal Opera House - what the Maltese called 'l-Irjal' - is not; yet the core cultural repercussions of this loss were and remained far more telling than any George Cross," Frendo said, adding that "commemorating the Santa Maria convoy on 15th August is not any less deserving or relevant to Maltese endurance and survival".

Fellow historian Joseph Pirotta agreed with Frendo that the value of the George Cross to Malta has more to do with history than culture, while describing contemporary reaction to the award as being "correctly seen by the Maltese people as both appreciation for their sacrifices as well as global proclamation of their endurance".

Pirotta disagrees with the notion that the Cross may represent any shades of colonial rule.

"I think it is a travesty to depict the George Cross award as a symbol of colonialism on the ground that we were fighting somebody else's war. Malta was not dragged into the war simply because it was a British naval base. It was dragged into the war because of its strategic position and the island's political status would not have made any difference as to whether Malta would have been attacked or not," Pirotta said.