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.