Washington, DC – The Washington Oxi Day Foundation announced today that Greek WWII veteran and four-star General Konstantinos Korkas has been selected to receive the 2013 Oxi Day Greatest Generation Award, in recognition of his courageous service in World War II.
Previous recipients of this award have included former US Senate Majority Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole, former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Benjamin Gilman, Greek-American veterans Andrew Athens and Mike Cokinos, and Greek veterans Antonios Kounalakis and Panagiotis Sakellaris. Each year the Washington Oxi Day Foundation honors a Greek, Greek-American and American WWII veteran with this honor.
Lieutenant General Konstantinos Korkas spent his career serving in the Greek Army in multiple capacities earning numerous commendations for his valiant service. During World War II, Korkas participated in the 1941 Battle of Crete in Greece. He later served from 1942-1945 in the Greek Army’s elite special forces unit known as the “Greek Sacred Company”. As part of this unit, Korkas participated in actions in North Africa, the Middle East and the Islands of the Aegean. Korkas was wounded twice in action during the war.
Korkas is a graduate of the Hellenic Military Academy and received further education at the US Industrial College of the Armed Forces and US Army Command and General Staff College. He served in numerous positions during his Greek military career including Army Inspector General, NATO Staff Officer and Defense Attache of Greece in Hungary and Romania. His career decorations include the British Medal of Honor (1944) and the French Medal of the National Order of Merit (1978). He is also an eight-time recipient of the War Cross, six-time recipient of the Golden Medal for Valor and has one promotion on bravery. Lieutenant General Korkas is now retired and lives in Athens, Greece with his wife Vivi and family.
General Korkas will accept the award at a moving ceremony at the National World War II Memorial on Thursday, October 24th at 2:30 pm. This event is part of the Third Annual Washington Oxi Day Celebration. Those attending this ceremony will include American policymakers, ambassadors and officials from other nations, military officials, WWII Veterans and Greek-American community leaders from across the country.
At the same ceremony, Christopher Mehiel will be posthumously honored with the Greatest Generation Award honoring a Greek-American WWII veteran. The recipient of the award honoring an American veteran will be announced shortly.
Participation in this event at the WWII Memorial is free due to the generosity of our sponsors, but registration is required. Please RSVP to rsvp@oxidayfoundation.org.