Description
British War Medal, Bronze for non-combatants, 86 E. Debono, Maltese Labour Corps, a Waiter with the 1st Maltese Employment Company who served in Salonika during 1918.
Officially impressed: “86 E. Debono. Maltese L.C.”
Confirmed on the medal roll. On original silk ribbon.
The Medal Roll notes that Mr Debono served as a Waiter, with the 1st Maltese Employment Company, being active from 7/3/1918 until 16/4/1919 in Salonika, aka Thessaloniki
Debono was a member of the small “Maltese Employment Company” which rather than providing purely manual labour moving and unloading crates etc, were instead employed mostly as Waiters, Cooks and Servants to help aid the British Salonika Army serving in the country.
In their joint published paper titled “The Maltese Labour Corps during World War 1”, written by Professor Albert Caruana and William Zammit Ph.D, they recall the details of this unit:
Source for further reading:
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/8698/1/The%20Maltese%20Labour%20Corps.pdf
“On the 9th February 1918, 1 year engagement was offered for enrolment to the 1st Employment Company, MLC. Enrolment consisted of 119 men made up of 14 cooks, 42 waiters, 63 servants, together with 3 sergeants and 2 corporals under the
command of Acting Capt. Charles F. Von Brockdorff. These left Malta on 18 February 191837 and arrived in Salonika on 23 February 1918. On 10 March a further 18 waiters and 100 servants arrived together with 3 NCOs and one officer, bringing the first company to full strength.”
Judging from his arrival this would indicate Debono was one of the 18 Waiters mentioned who landed on the 10th March.
They write in their abstract the following interesting information regarding the limited services allowed by Malta during the war.
“During the First World War Malta was not directly involved, yet during this time a significant deployment did take place. It did not take the form of front line troops; rather it was some 5,600 locally enlisted men who volunteered for overseas service with the Maltese Labour Corps. At least 120 men lost their lives on active service, very often from disease. They are buried across various cemeteries mostly in Greece. It is a deployment that has received little attention and is all but forgotten.”
