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Malta

Heroes Remember

Malta

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Transcript
I don't know how the people survived. They took an awful beating and Malta was given the George Cross. The George Cross, the people of Malta and the Island of Malta was given the George Cross, and the George Cross is the civilian equivalent to the Victoria Cross. The place was bombed something awful by the Italians, some German. Mostly Italian at that time. You'd look out, we were in what was a hotel at one time, and you'd look out and there was, nowadays you would say it was a parking lot. It was a big cement slab. There used to be a building there. There was one street in Malta that we used to walk down the street and I looked up one day and the rubble was oh, ten, twelve feet high. So I asked one of the Maltese, I said, "Why don't you clean that up?" They had cleaned up an awful lot of streets, eh. They said if they did the buildings would all fall down around it so they left it there, they left it there. At that time, I went there in April of ‘43 and left in December, there were no restaurants because any food coming coming in had to come in by convoy. They did little farming, but for ballast, ships normally use stone but when they were going to Malta was just like a little stone quarry really. There was a hundred foot drop on each end of the main runway and that was stone quarry. It was only fifty miles from Sicily and it was the entrance to the Suez Canal so they got that and this is what they were trying to do. But, and at that time it belonged to the British. It was like Palestine and Malta they were British protectors. Part of the empire. And the, this was one of the reasons why they were trying to beat it into submission. England had a naval base there as well. And of course to run the airdromes, they had built some, the main airdrome was Luka, the one I was at, but they had an awful lot of stuff in there, different types of aircraft, an awful lot. But the problem was the convoys coming in they took an awful beating, an awful beating. I don't know how they existed really to tell you the truth.
Description

Mr. Doiron explains the strategic importance of Malta for both Allied and Axis forces. He also recalls the hardships of the people of the island.

Leonard Doiron

Mr. Doiron was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on January 21st 1923. His father worked in wholesale and retail until he was injured and opened his own shoe repair shop. Mr. Doiron joined the Air Force on February 15th 1941 where he began his training in Chatham, New Brunswick. In June 1941 he was sent to Initial Training School in Victoriaville, Québec. Mr. Doiron was part of the top 10 aspiring pilots and was picked to become one. He was later sent back to Chatham where he was washed out for inconsistent flying. The RAFFC (Royal Air Force Ferry Command) noticed his Morse code abilities and had him transferred to Dorval, Québec. He was then stationed in Bournemouth, England. He did his Operational Training in Northern Ireland where he was assigned to a Wellington air plane crew. He flew many missions over the Gulf of Toranto (Italy) - about 300 hours of Operational Flying Time and was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1. He then went to Cairo, Egypt and to Palestine for a short time before being sent back home on the Louis Pasteur. Mr. Doiron retired from the service in the 1970's.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
03:04
Person Interviewed:
Leonard Doiron
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Branch:
Air Force
Units/Ship:
Royal Air Force Ferry Command (RAFFC)
Rank:
Sergeant
Occupation:
Radio Operator

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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