Colonel East had a rousing send-off on his departure, perhaps retirement, from Malta in April 1914. He was carried in procession from Mtarfa barracks to Museum station in a karozzin hauled by his own soldiers and accompanied by ranks of hundreds more. This photo, another from my friend in the Malta Study Circle, shows a crowded platform and the colonel wearing a civilian suit and shaking hands from the veranda of a Malta Railway first class carriage.

One curiosity is the small ornate badge above the first window next to the Colonel. What is it? Was it just something put there for this event, or more commonplace? More information of Col. East would be welcome, he was clearly much loved by his troops!