OVER THESE AND NEIGHBOURING LANDS AND SEAS THE AIRMEN WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED HERE FELL IN RAID OR SORTIE AND HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE MALTA GIBRALTAR MEDITERRANEAN ADRIATIC TUNISIA SICILY ITALY YUGOSLAVIA AUSTRIA PROPOSITI INSULA TENAX TENACES VIROS COMMEMORAT
The Malta Memorial is a war memorialmonument to the 2,298 Commonwealthaircrew who lost their lives in the various Second World Warair battles and engagements around the Mediterranean, whilst serving with the Commonwealth Air Forces flying from bases in Austria, Italy, Sicily, islands of the Adriatic and Mediterranean, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, West Africa, Yugoslavia and Gibraltar, and who have no known grave.[1][2]
The Malta Memorial is identified by the gildedbronzegolden eagle which surmounts the 15 m (49 ft) column of Travertinemarble, from Tivoli in the Sabine Hills near Rome.[3] It is carved with a light netted pattern and surmounted by a gilded bronze eagle 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) high. The monument was designed by Sir Hubert Worthington, while the eagle which surmounts the column is the work of the sculptor Charles Wheeler.
The column stands on a circular base around which the names are inscribed on bronze panels. The circular marble base itself is inscribed with the motto of the Royal Air Force and most Commonwealth air forces, "Per Ardua Ad Astra".
At the base of the column itself, a bronze panel bears the following inscription:[3]
OVER THESE AND NEIGHBOURING LANDS AND SEAS THE AIRMEN WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED HERE FELL IN RAID OR SORTIE AND HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE MALTA GIBRALTAR MEDITERRANEAN ADRIATIC TUNISIA SICILY ITALY YUGOSLAVIA AUSTRIA PROPOSITI INSULA TENAX TENACES VIROS COMMEMORAT*
The Latin epigram may be rendered in English: AN ISLAND RESOLUTE OF PURPOSE REMEMBERS RESOLUTE MEN.[3]
Those remembered on the memorial include:
Lloyd Allan TriggVCDFC (5 May 1914–11 August 1943), of Houhora, New Zealand, a pilot in the RNZAF. He was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy for British and Commonwealth armed forces. His award is unique, as it was awarded on evidence solely provided by the enemy, for an action in which there were no surviving Allied witnesses to corroborate his gallantry.[4]