Survivor of shattered dreams

Maria Parsons was the happiest person in the world in December 1942 when the love of her life Henry Pien, a Belgian fighter pilot, proposed to her.

But the Germans were bombing Malta off the map and on December 19 Maria received the worst news she could possibly have imagined. Henry's aircraft had ditched in the sea and with it the engagement they had lined up for December 24.

It was therefore only logical for Maria to return from the UK to her place of birth for the 60th anniversary war veterans' meeting. Looking much younger than her 81 years, Maria has not lost any of her wit, sense of humour and keen eye.

As she spent most of the war years working at Ta' Qali assisting the allied forces, Maria was on a first name basis with several of the Malta war heroes - from Laddie Lucas to George "Screwball" Burling.

"I was a real monkey. Like many, I flirted with all the pilots but I wasn't a bad girl - I couldn't be naughty with a policeman father who used to phone me pretending to be some boyfriend just to catch me out," she laughs.

After losing his entire family to the German bombing, Henry Pien had gone to the UK to train as an RAF fighter pilot and worked his way up to a flight sergeant. He was dispatched to Ta' Qali during the battle of Malta.

"Henry was a nice quiet man who quickly earned a reputation for his skill as a fighter pilot. We used to go dancing near Saqqajja in Rabat," Maria recalled.

Maria and Henry were head over heels in love and in keeping with the traditions of the day, soon set a date for their engagement. Fate, however, had other plans.

"I happened to be at Ta' Qali when I took the message that his plane had been shot down. I dropped everything and cried."

Maria made sure Henry's memory lived on, on the island he died for. She recently donated a button from the deceased pilot's jacket to the Ta' Qali Memorial Hangar.

She has vivid memories of the war; of walking from her home in Rabat's St Dominic's Square to Ta' Qali.

"We used to work like brothers and sisters as we fought for our country. Whenever one of the pilots used to perish I used to cry my eyes out. The boys used to give us some bread sometimes. It was very hard at the time. We had no food whatsoever to the extent that we used to suck goat's bones."

For a while she gave a helping hand at the Victory Kitchen as hungry Malta grappled with the enemy bombing.

"We used to add so much water to the soup because we didn't have enough to feed the people. When they all left we even licked the plates."

Maria narrates in intricate detail the horrors of war unfolding before her eyes, as Malta turned into a cauldron of bombs.

"When the first air raid came I saw something shining on the ground. I didn't realise what it was until I decided to go pick it up. It was shrapnel and it burnt my fingers.

"Another day I saw a woman blown up into smithereens in College Street, Rabat. Her head went one way and her skin and her long black hair the other.

Maria had several other close shaves with death. One day she naively waved to the pilot of a low-flying German aircraft. He responded by dropping a grenade which luckily ricocheted off a rubble wall before hitting the ground.

Like most people who lived at the time, Maria is proud for the way tiny Malta stood up to the bombings and tears well up in her eyes as she recalls the day King George presented Malta with the George Cross.

"War makes you think and grow up. I wonder whether children nowadays have learnt anything from it though.

"Children need to look back at the war and learn. People lost their lives, children lost their fathers, grandchildren lost their grandfathers."

Maria went on to meet another special man in her life - a fine helicopter pilot named Daniel Parsons whom she married in 1951. Mr Parsons was looking forward to the 60th anniversary celebrations in Malta but he passed away three months ago.

Holding his picture close to her heart and proudly wearing his war medals, Maria says: "This visit to Malta would have meant so much to him."