The Minister of National Defence Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos, accompanied by the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff Lieutenant General (AF) Antonios Tsantirakis, attended today the official Opening of the Church of Saint Panteleimon, which has been built in memory of the fallen airman Captain (AF) Pantelis Gkelis, at the area of the Holy Monastery of the Birth of Virgin Mary at Akrefnio, Boeotia.

The official Opening of the Church will be performed by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Hieronymus.

After the completion of the ceremony, Mr. Panagiotopoulos made the following statement:

“During the hard times we are experiencing, we need points of reference, so as to stand upright, raise our spirit and head forward. Such reference points are the sacrifices made by the personnel of the Armed Forces, which happened in the line of the duty and mission entrusted to them by the Hellenic people and the Constitution of the Hellenic Democratic State.

We are here, at the upland of Boeotia, to honour the memory and the sacrifice the heroic Captain of the Hellenic Air Force Panteleimon Gkelis made, fallen on this spot, in the line of a duty he was entrusted with, by the Hellenic Air Force and Greece.

The heroic conduct of Captain Gkelis is a characteristic model of the heroism, self-sacrifice and morale characterising the entire Hellenic Armed Forces in their historic course and their struggles for the Nation and the country.

The current year is the 100 Anniversary of the victorious Balkan Wars during which, thanks to our people, their sacrifices and our Armed Forces, Greece succeeded in doubling its size and freeing Macedonia and Thessaloniki.

It is time to consider all what is owed to this special part of the Hellenic people; our Armed Forces. We should stand by them, just as they stand by our country and our people.

May the memory and the remembrance of the sacrifice made by the heroic Captain Panteleimon Gkelis be immortal”.