“The self-sacrifice of our three heroic Officers, Karathanassis, Vlahakos and Yialopsos, is the beacon that will help us find the right path, the route to reform for our People, during these hard times. The example they set is an inspiration for the Armed Forces and generates role models for our younger personnel, as well as for the new generation, the youth of our country”.
That was, among other things, what the Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos underlined in the statement he made after the modest ceremony that took place in the courtyard of Kos Island Naval Station, where the unveiling of the marble busts of the three heroic Hellenic Navy Officers fallen at Imia took place.
After the memorial service which was officiated by his Eminence the Metropolitan Nathanael of Kos and Nissiros, the Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos, the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Michail Kostarakos and the Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Vice Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis performed the unveiling of the three marble busts at the presence of the fallen men’s relatives. The unveiling ceremony was also attended by the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff Lieutenant General Athanassios Tselios, the Commander of the Higher Military Command of Interior and Islands Lieutenant General Efstathios Panitsidis and delegates from Kos Island Local Administration, as well as by many inhabitants of the island.
After the completion of the ceremony, the Minister of National defence made the following statement:
“I would like to congratulate the local community of the island of Kos, the Authorities and the citizens of Kos Island for embracing this great initiative of the Armed Forces and the Military and Naval Commandments here on the island.
I believe that the self-sacrifice of our three heroic Officers, Karahtanassis, Vlahakos and Yialopsos, is the beacon that will help us find the right path, the route to reform for our People, during these hard times. The example they set is an inspiration for the Armed Forces and generates role models for our younger personnel, as well as for the new generation, the youth of our country.
It is very important that this kind of heroic pages from the recent History of the Armed Forces will be the heritage nor only of the youth currently studying in Army, Navy and Air Force Military Institutions, but to become the heritage of all children studying at the Hellenic educational system, via educational books.
I would like to shake hands with all the relatives that honour us with their presence here and experience with dignity their Calvary, their suffering. I would like to thank once more the local community. For the reason, for they are a part of borderline Greece, I would like to assure them that the Armed Forces are completely devoted to their duty and -through difficulties and adversities- they are decided to guarantee the country’s National Sovereignty, integrity and National Independence.
The country would not be able to give the struggle it currently gives for its salvation and reform if, once more, the Hellenic Armed Forces had not assumed on their shoulders the devastating burden emerging from the sacrifices necessary for Greece to avoid bankruptcy and go forward. We can do and we will do, one more time, what our Nation and our People have managed to do many times in the course of their long history”.
