In 1942 at the age of 16, George Dimitrios Orfanoudis secretly left his family and hometown of Flatsia in Chios, Greece to fight for his country.  George and a few of his friends took a small boat in the cover of darkness across the four-mile distance to Turkey, and eventually ended up in Egypt which was then part of the British-controlled Middle East.  There, George joined the Hellenic Royal Navy which had been placed under the Royal Government in Exile.  George served on a destroyer in the Hellenic Royal Navy for the duration of World War II on convoy escort missions throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.  He achieved the rank of chief petty officer.  Following the war, George completed 15 years of service in the Greek Merchant Marine.