WAR PHOTOS

In May 1941, my gradndfather, Eftikis Koukoutsakis went to help repel the German invaders. However, on reaching Kandanos he realized that he had no weapon and so he took one of a policeman who said that he did not want to fight because Athens the capital of Greece had already fallen. So grandfather went off to fight with a Lee Enfield and ten rounds in the magazine. After the battle started, the bullets in his magazine finished very quickly and he was asking others to lend him some. But no one was giving him any and all he could do was stand around waiting for someone to get shot, so he can get he could get his gun. In the meantime the main machine gun broke down obliging the Greeks to withdraw into the mountains.

So he went also, feeling very useless and for him it was rather sad in the next days watching from above the village being burned, but also watching the looters who were stealing things from peoples' homes.

To be continued.

The top photo above is my grandfather Eftihis Koukoutsakis on the right and a fellow soldier by the name of Aristotelis on the left. The photo is taken in Komotini 1948.

The second photo is in the training center in Iraklion Crete in 1948.

The third one is also in Iraklion the same year.

The fourth is also in Iralklion and on this one you can see some of my grandfathers best friends, 22-09- 1948.

The fifth is at a hill of Florina Greece in 1948 my grandfather is the third from right.

Stay tuned for more.

THE FIRST CHAPTER

The top photo below is from 1948 . My grandfather on the right and a fellow soldier on the left.

The picture below is my grandfather, his wife Sofia and 3 of his four children the photo must be early 1960s.

My grandfather was born in 1920 to Antonis and Alexarndra Koukoutsakis in the beautifull village of Azogires. He had 8 more brothers and sisters. He was baptized in the church of St. Eftihis, his Godfather was one of the most powerful lawyers in Chania but a very old man and as a result, my grandfather never had a chance to meet him.

He grew up in Azogires working as hard as possible in order to support his family, and by the mid 1930s he had full responsibility for the whole family. In the early 1940s the Second World War caught up with him.

Fortunately he had planted enough crops to feed his family for several years, storing them in the cellars of his house, when, in May 1941, the Germans parachuted into Crete: invading the island and also ruining his first plans of marriage. In response to the invasion he went along with others to his first battle - at Kandanos.

And the story continues

MILITARY PHOTOGRAPH

In the photograph below, my grandfather, Eftikis Koukoutsakis, is third from the right.

The photo was taken in a training camp in Heraklion, Crete, in 1948 during the Greek Civil War, a conflict which began in Greece as the Second World War ended.

And here our story slowly starts. In the following photos on this blog, I will tell you the full story of his life. I will tell you the suffering he went through and I will also tell you the good memories of him.

Stay with us, have some patience, and the story will slowly unfold itself before your eyes.

PHOTOS AND STORIES OF A TRUE HERO

Over the following weeks though this blog, I hope you will learn a little about my grandfather Eftikis Koukoutsakis.

He was indeed a true life hero; a man who went through a lot of suffering in his life but still remained a true gentlemen.

A man with a heart of gold. My hero