Charles Ballance was arguably the most eminent surgeon stationed in Malta during the Great War. On the 16th February 1918 he removed a bullet from the heart of trooper Robert Martin who was shot in the chest in Salonika three months previously. Sadly the patient died of sepsis one month later, a fact that obscured the importance of this landmark operation, the third of its kind worldwide. This paper sets the background to this achievement and celebrates the impact that this surgical pioneer left on our shores.peer-reviewe