History

In 1986, Anthony The Marquis Buttigieg De Piro KStJ GCLJ (J) KMLJ FInstD MIM, was asked by the late Commander St John Ambulance Malta GC Edwin H W Borg KStJ to raise a Corps of rescue volunteers, which would be part of St John Ambulance, but separate from the St John Ambulance Brigade (First Aid and Nursing).  

Commander Borg’s request to raise a Rescue Corps under the banner of St John was in order to meet the need in Malta of a support civil defence unit consisting of adult volunteers fully trained in rescue and first aid.  

The first rescue courses organised for the new volunteer recruits of the newly-formed St John Rescue Corps – Malta GC, were carried out by the Corps Commander Marquis Buttigieg De Piro who was ably assisted by rescue instructors of the Armed Forces of Malta who were loaned to him by the Commander of the Armed Forces at the time, Brigadier Claude M Gaffiero KStJ, without whose clear thinking and support the Rescue Corps might have never taken off.  

After five months, the Rescue Corps officers and their subordinate leaders were running the rescue courses very professionally and efficiently, to their own divisions and new recruits.  Without exception, all the Commanders of the Armed Forces of Malta always co-operated with, supported and helped the St John Rescue Corps, whenever they could.

Together with the St John Ambulance Association’s Training Branch and the Ambulance Brigade (First Aid and Nursing), the Rescue Corps forms part of the St John Ambulance Malta GC and operates under the auspices of the Order of St John, of which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is Sovereign Head.  The official web-site of the Order of St John can be found at www.orderofstjohn.org.

Further information on St John Ambulance Malta GC can be found at www.stjohnambulancemalta.com.