Mrs Norman Hamilton’s brother (also called Norman) and the George Cross
Published:
September 22, 2013 at 6:04pm
My brother is campaigning to have the George Cross sent back to the Queen while my husband is Malta’s envoy to her court
When Malta’s envoy to the Court of St James, and Mrs Norman Hamilton, do the social rounds in London there is one topic of conversation they will avoid.
This is the campaign Mrs Norman Hamilton’s brother, Norman Grech has waged for years to have the depiction of the George Cross removed from the Maltese flag and the thing itself dispatched back to Britain.
Nor, I imagine, will Mrs Hamilton be dotting her drawing-room furniture with silver-framed facsimiles of her brother’s anti-British rants in the correspondence pages of Times of Malta.
Can’t have that, can we.
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Remove the George Cross and replace it with the red star of China.
Why should we have the George cross on our flag and not the Maltese cross which as its name shows, is identified with Malta? We already have the Maltese cross on the President of Malta’s flag, the national (mercantile) ensign and on Air Malta planes. Isn’t it strange that our flag, our most important national symbol, opts for a completely different cross?
[Daphne – Do you actually know what the George cross is, David? It’s not ‘a cross’. It’s a decoration, as in ‘a medal’ – only it’s called a cross, rather than a medal, because of the shape as distinct from the purpose or the symbolism.]
Do you know what the ‘Maltese Cross’ is, David?
At the moment it’s Joey Muscat.
But seriously, the eight-pointed cross is not Maltese despite the common name.
It originated in Amalfi, Italy, and is the symbol of the Order of St John, otherwise known as the Knights of Malta. It is the symbol of the Order, and not of Malta.
Further info here:
http://www.sanandrea.edu.mt/senior/cyberfair/knights/2a.html
I think this confusion regarding the eight pointed cross does not actually come from the Maltese.
The Italians refer to it as La Croce di Malta and I Cavalieri di Malta is also said. The British say The Maltese Cross.
In reality in Maltese we say Is-Salib tal-Kavallieri and Il-Kavallieri ta’ San Gwann.
The George Cross is a symbol of bravery. Why should it be removed from the flag?
David, you really are incredibly stupid.
David, where were you during history lessons?
TAJJEB TKUN TAF LI T-TMIEN PONOT TAS-SALIB TA’ MALTA, KIEN JISSIMBOLIZZA T-TMIEN VOTI TAL-KAVALLIERI TA’ MALTA KIF UKOLL IT-TMIEN LINGWI PREŻENTI F’PAJJIŻNA FL-EPOKA TAL-KAVALLIERI.
The eight pointed cross, represented the vows adhered by the knights then and it also symbolized the eight different languages present in Malta, during the epoch of the Knights of Malta.
Please David read these so that you’ll know the difference between the George Cross and the Maltese Cross.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Award_of_the_George_Cross_to_Malta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_cross
Jesus, David! Stop dragging down the average I.Q. of the community that follows this website. You really are out of place here. Go read Times of Malta.
Dave, did any of your family risk their life during those terrible years or were they cowards who hid in the shelters and complained that if it weren’t for the British we could have been peacefully invaded by Mussolini and Hitler?
Well said David! :-) You are yet another open-minded person!
Norman Grech (a former member of the North Korea-trained Special Mobile Unit of the Malta Police Force in the Golden Years).
What?
Exactly my thought.
The George Cross was awarded to the Maltese people, and not to the Labour Party, and is therefore not theirs to give back.
It would also be a slap in the face to all those people of my parents-in-law’s generation and others who were around at the time who suffered greatly and endured much during those terrible years of the Second World War.
Sending it back would, I feel, belittle the sacrifices they made for peace on our behalf. It is symbolic of a particular period in our shared history and to send it back to Britain would be breathtakingly arrogant and anyway, would not alter what happened during the war years in these islands.
It should continue to be displayed as much as possible to tell the world that little Malta punches above her weight and isn’t ashamed to advertise her pride in our ancestors’ efforts in their fight for a better future.
Please note that the Eight Pointed Cross is a property of the Order of St. John, which is still around. – I do not think that we are even allowed to use it.
Then again, this campaign, shows how bloody ignorant the Labour Camp really is.
I agree 100% that the stamp should be removed from our flag! I never read anywhere that Mr Grech ever suggested that it should be sent back but left in the Museum where it should be. This is the 21st Century for God’s sake….I dont want anything on my National Flag to remind me of War and Servitude!! Maybe if the British were so grateful to us Maltese they should have stamped their flag with something Maltese, don’t you think?? But ours???? DuuuuHHH!!!
OK, so let’s just have a White flag, because White and Red was given to us from our Norman conquerers, I believe.
With your argument, each country would just have white flags.
MELA BL-ISTESS ARGUMENT IL-FRANĊIŻI GĦANDHOM IBIDDLU L-INNU NAZZJONALI, INNU PJUTTOST REVOLUZZJONARJU U PATRIJOTTIKU GĦALL-AĦĦAR, META L-EWROPA KIENET MIMLIJA GWERER GĦAX MA KINITX UNJONI EWROPEA.
IT-TALJANI L-ISTESS, IFHEM X’JGĦIDU FL-INNU U TARA KIF JITKELLEM FUQ L-ISTORJA TAGĦHOM U MILL-ĠDID PATRIJOTTIKU GĦALL-AĦĦAR.
L-INNU INGLIŻ, ‘SENT HER VICTORIOUS’ U L-BQIJA, META LLUM GRAZZI GĦALL-UNJONI NINSABU FIS-SLIEM.
L-IMGĦODDI QIEGĦED HEMM BIEX JGĦALLIMNA, ISSA JEKK HAWN MIN IRID IĦADDAN L-INJURANZA, ALLURA NĦASSRU L-ISTORJA, INĠARRFU T-TEMPJI, NWAQQGĦU S-SWAR, INĦOTTU L-KNEJJES U L-MUŻEWIJIET GĦAX DAWN KOLLHA JGĦIDULNA ĠRAJJA LI ĠARRABNA U GĦAMLITNA NAZZJON KBURI U GĦANI FI ĠRAJJITNA U SODI F’GĦERUQNA.
Disagreed completely, my dear Mary.
I have lived through World War II and its immediate aftermath – like so many thousands still around in this Island. Have you?
Mary, please learn how to read. The George Cross reminds us of gallantry and not servitude.
Daphne,
You really don’t have anything to write about do you! :-)
As for the cross of gorgie, I am entitled to my opinion, no? This is the 2013 for Christ’s sake! If you wish to have your mind still brain washed and servile, be my guest. See with your own eyes, what open-minded people have to say about this matter! Next time I see you in Mosta, and I know exactly where you’re normally at, we’ll have a civilised discussion! This has nothing to do with being anti-british! This has to do with being proud to be Maltese.
You’ll earn some credit with me if you print this comment, exactly as is! :-)
Take care
[Daphne – “We’ll have a civilised discussion”. If it’s about anything other than the weather or the traffic, don’t bother. I’m about three decades past the age of seeing either any point or any entertainment in getting into long-winded discussions with those who hold entrenched and extremist views, and I find people with colonialist chips on their shoulder especially enervating. It’s your mind that needs opening: then perhaps you will be able to see beyond your brainwashed rhetoric – clearly the fruit of your upbringing rather than your own powers of analysis, given that your sister was prancing all over Xandir Malta under giant photographs of Dom Il Sung and Karmenu Mao in the Golden 80s – to the fact that British colonialism was the making of Malta, rather than the reverse. The arguments of those who think as you do are rooted in the false premiss that ‘the Maltese’ could have ‘made it on their own’ post-1800, and so your logic is false. Yes, right – made it to what? Sicily’s toenail, speaking Maltese all the way while being annexed eventually by the Fascists next door. I hate to say this to a man my age or older, but you really need to grow up.]
heheheh! I find this very entertaining!
Some clarifications:
1. I am definitely younger than you ;P :-) and let us let the readers judge who needs growing up.
2. Extremeist view? heheh again, this is your way of looking at it! When the idea was first put forward for women to vote (as one of the many examples) it was also seen as extremist view, those days, by conservatives.
3. I doubt you have the ability to ever understand my point. I am not against the medal per se, I am just against the medal ON OUR FLAG. but like the rest of you you thwart the argument intentionally! :-)
4. You will no doubt have your last say again as this is your blog. So enjoy your perceived satisfaction, because I’m out of here!
Do take care :-)
[Daphne – It’s not about ‘having the last say’, Norman, but about not ignoring those who wish to engage with us, unless they are harmful stalkers.
I don’t think adults should begin sentences with ‘hehehehe’. At our sort of age, we should say something like ‘I found that amusing’ or ‘That’s quite funny.’ As for the rest:
1. My apologies for thinking you are in your late 40s. This was a reasonable assumption to make given that your sister Josette Hamilton must be in her mid-50s at least, and I didn’t do the impolite thing and assume or suggest you were older, which I might well have done. Gaps of 10 years and more between siblings are the exception and not the norm in my experience, so I do not naturally assume that women in their mid-50s have brothers in their early 40s.
I grew up rather earlier than the norm, and was writing a political column for a national newspaper and looking after a household with three children at 25, so your encouragement to do so is gratuitous, I’m afraid.
2. The world has come a long way since discussions about votes for women a hundred years ago, which means that in 21st-century Europe, ‘extremist’ has a real rather than a relative meaning. In any case, I find that extremists are generally just obsessive people who find something on which to fixate, rather than idealists, who tend to be the extremist exception.
3. I do indeed have the ability to understand your point. My IQ is not below average. I understand your point and precisely because I understand it, I disagree with it utterly and completely. Your failure is in believing that people disagree with you merely because they don’t understand your argument. It is not for you to be for or against the George Cross, because it was not given to you. Most of the people who earned it are now dead, and you don’t speak for them and never did. I do not thwart your argument intentionally or otherwise. You are free to make it. It would be the simplest matter to hit ‘delete’, but I don’t.
4. How much younger than Mrs Hamilton are you exactly?]
We do not need the George Cross
to be or feel Maltese,
that`s for sure.
I would remove from the flag
but not send it back.
I agree wholeheartedly.
In order to feel Maltese, we only need to share your idiotic views.
Whoever said that we need the George Cross to be or feel Maltese, Bridgette? In my opinion that is a very stupid thing to say.
The George Cross was awarded to our forefathers for their bravery and therefore it should stay on the flag in their honour.
It is there to remind us of the bravery and suffering the people of this little island have gone through during World War 11.
I simply cannot understand these people who want to eradicate history. In my opinion it is simply ignorance, or perhaps arrogance.
@ Norman Grech
“It is not for you to be for or against the George Cross, because it was not given to you. Most of the people who earned it are now dead, and you don’t speak for them and never did.”
There you go Norman, you’ve got your answer….now shove the eight pointed cross in a dark. shady and obscure hole….you determined idiot.
Read some proper history.