GREEK AMERICAN SERVICEMEN HONORED FOR THEIR OXI-LIKE COURAGE

Ambassador of Greece Antonis Alexandridis with the winner of the John Calamos Vietnam Service Award (Col Mark Gatanas) and the winner of the OXI Service Award (Col Chris Countouriotis)

 

“It’s rare that one has the opportunity to be surrounded by individuals of such greatness and courage. This year, the Washington OXI Day Foundation did just that. We had the opportunity to recognize the incredible unrelenting courage of three Greek American service members,” said Andy Manatos, founder of the Foundation.

These modern day “heroes” were presented by retired four star General Andrew Poppas the Haseotes World War II Service Award, the Calamos Service Award and the OXI Service Award at the Colin Powell Library at the National War College in Fort McNair and again at the historic Washington National Cathedral and finally at the solemn wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In attendance were H.E. Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic Antonis Alexandridis, family of the honorees, and foreign military attachés at the invitation of the Greek Defense Attaché Col Odysseas Papaevangelou and the OXI Day Foundation.

 

Presentation of the OXI Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

General Andrew Poppas addresses the group at the National War College

 

Eddie Lambros received posthumously the Haseotes Service Award made possible by the Haseotes/Bentas/Vinios families in memory of Vasilios Haseotes. In introducing this award, Poppas pointed to a famous photograph of Lambros, a young paratrooper, and other American soldiers holding a Nazi flag which appeared on the front page of the New York Times. The very next day Lambros was killed in battle. Poppas said, when he looks at that photograph “ I see a young soldier who volunteered to go into harm’s way,..who understood the mission might demand everything he had to give. And he did make that ultimate sacrifice.”  Of Haseotes, Poppas said, “Vasilios Haseotes was a young Greek that grew up in Constantinople, and he came to America in search of an opportunity and a better life. But when his adopted country in 1917 called, he answered that call for World War I and joined the United States Army. He saw some of the fiercest battles of World War I. Severely wounded by shrapnel, his lungs shredded from the effects of mustard gas, he returned to America,and built an extraordinary successful business…Cumberland Farms. It was started in 1939 with he and his wife with one cow and one calf. It now employs thousands of people and has hundreds of locations.”

 

Andrew Manatos with the images of Vasilios Haseotes over his shoulder, the namesake of the Haseotes World War II Service Award and Eddie Lambros, who received the award posthumously

 

John Calamos, behind General Poppas, in image featured in his Air Force combat uniform in front of his plane. Also featured, the Calamos Service Award recipient Col Mark Gatanas as well as Greek Defense Attaché Col Odysseas Papaevangelou.

 

The final award—the OXI Service Award was presented to Col Chris Countouriotis who leads one of, if not the most, elite special operations unit in the US military and the world and has led as General Poppas said, some of the most exquisite operations ever undertaken. 

 

In addition to the Awards presentation at the National War College, the recipients were also recognized at the evening gala event, which for the first time in the history of the Washington OXI Day Foundation was held at the revered Washington National Cathedral in the exact spot where US Presidents gather to pray in celebration of their inaugurations, as well, sit for the funerals of fellow presidents.

 

 

 

 

“The Washington OXI Day Foundation is pleased to recognize these distinguished heroes as well as pay tribute to the remarkable courage of the awards’ namesakes, John Calamos and Vasilios Haseotes, “said Andy Manatos. He continued, “from the ancient battlefields of Marathon and Thermopylae to OXI Day battles of World War II and to our brave soldiers of modern times, we applaud the character and courage of the Greek spirit.” As Poppas says, “Different generations, very different battlefields, even different weapons. But the enduring warrior spirit remains. The same courage to face danger, the same loyalty to those beside you, and the same willingness to place duty, honor, and country above self. You remind us that the spirit of Oxi is not confined to just the history books. It lives in the character and courage of those who continue to serve.”