Honorable mention: “Living the good life.” photo by Cheryl Burdiak “Three proud Veterans.” story by Mikeletos Spiros
A Greek American family’s life is shaped by military service by Mikeletos Spiros There are three proud military veterans in my family. They lived in the South Bay for many years, but were born and raised on the island of Cephalonia, in Greece, home to the poet Homer and 1 mile from the island of Ithaca, Ulysses’ homeland. Harry was the father, Jerry the oldest son, and Spiros the youngest son. Spiros is the one who volunteered to write this brief version of their military history. Perhaps Spiros forgot what they taught him in the United States Air Force: ”Never Volunteer!” In 1912, the Greeks sent recruiters around the world to enlist young Greeks to fight for the fatherland. My father Harry, who was living in New York, was among the first Greek Americans to volunteer. The great Greek poet Loannis Polemis wrote about my father and his fellow Greek Americans in “O Statos” (“O Soldiers”): “You left behind far away countries and land where the war of life kept you. You sailed back fast over the wide oceans because the fatherland cried for your help and you responded!” They participated in the liberation of Greek Macedonia, Ipiros, Gianina, Salonica, Philippi, and Thrace, the land…
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