Oscar Morris was stationed in Malta in the 40s. His post-war football career saw him play with Liverpool.

Brothers Gary and Graham Morris will always have a little bit of home left in Malta. Their father, Oscar, a celebrated football player and public official, served in Malta from 1943 to 1946 on HMS Jervis.

A sailor with the Royal Navy, for much of Mr Morris’s career Fort St Angelo was a permanent fixture. Despite being mum on his naval service for much of his life, his sons Gary and Graham are only now uncovering some of the rich and intimate details of their father’s naval career, of which Malta seems to have played an important role.

“We know it’s only a very tiny part of Malta’s long history, but to us it’s very important,” Gary Morris told Times of Malta.

The brothers said that at 16, in 1942, their father had wanted to join the army, but was unable to as the entry age was 17. However, being only six months away from his 17th birthday, he managed to enlist in the Royal Navy.

“This is where he spent his formative years as a young man,” Graham Morris says. “We wanted to find out more about what his life was like and what he did. This was his base, but we also found out that he was at the Anzio and Normandy landings.”

“And he’s not even 20!” his brother Gary chimes in. “Seventeen or 18-years old and he’s on the front-lines of a convoy.”

Stories of their father, however, aren’t the only treasures the Morris brothers bring with them.

Thick volumes filled with hundreds of their father’s photos document what daily life was like stationed at Fort St Angelo.

Oscar Morris’s military medals which have been donated to Heritage Malta.

Servicemen in uniform smiling in quick stolen shots, images of the Fort St Angelo frozen in time and, of course, football.

A skilled footballer before and after the war, Oscar Morris was captain of the Royal Navy team and skilled enough that he was asked to stay in Malta to continue to play. Mr Morris declined and returned to his home in the north of Wales. He played for a short while for Liverpool but spent most of his days playing for his hometown of Rhyl. He also played for Llandudno Junction, Holywell Town and Pwllheli among other teams and represented Wales at amateur level.

“He played hard football because he had to,” Gary says.

“Physically when you looked at him you wouldn’t have thought it, but he did.”

“His football at home was earning a fiver a week, which was more than what he earned working five days a week. It was his football, money on a Saturday that provided the houses, his first home. So, he had to be a winner, it was a necessity.”

“And he enjoyed it of course!” Graham says. “He wasn’t a morose man; he was a happy man with a good sense of humour and he was very highly regarded. But inside he was very tough.”

The Morris brothers not only made the journey to walk in their father’s footsteps, but have generously made their father’s collection available for documentation by Heritage Malta as well as donating his service and football medals he earned while in the navy.

Matthew Balzan, the curator of fortifications at Fort St Angelo, said that such collections are vital for continuous research and provide unique insight not only into how the fort changed over the years but also into the lives of the people who lived there.

“He never made a fuss about his medals,” Graham says.

“He wore them on Remembrance Sundays but that was it. They came out of the drawer once a year and back in they went.”

“Gary and I decided that this is their home,” he continues.

“If his photographs and memories and memorabilia are coming here, to finish the story it makes sense to have the medals as well, so the people of Malta and others can see them and enjoy them and look at them.”