On Tuesday, 21 December 2021, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nikolaos Chardalias, attended the oath-taking ceremony of first year cadets, Class of 2025 “Lieutenant General Stylianos Kalbourtzis”, which was held at the Hellenic Military Academy (Evelpidon) in Vari, Attica.
The Deputy Minister was accompanied by the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Konstantinos Floros, and the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Charalampos Lalousis.
The ceremony was also attended by the Mayor of Vari, Voula, and Vouliagmeni, Mr. Grigorios Konstantellos, His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Glyfada, Elliniko, Voula, Vouliagmeni, and Vari, Mr. Antonios, the Chief of the Fire Service, Fire Lieutenant General Stefanos Kolokouris, the Deputy Head of the Region of Attica for East Attica, Mr. Athanasios Avgerinos, the former Deputy Minister of National Defence and Honorary Chief HAGS, General Alkiviadis Stefanis (ret.), retired General and Senior Army Officers, delegations of Armed and Security Forces Officers, as well as family members of the new cadets.
The ceremony was also attended by family members of the Hero Lieutenant General Stylianos Kalbourtzis, after whom the Hellenic Military Academy (Evelpidon) Class of 2025 is named, who fell for God and Country during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974. The Hero’s remains were transported to Greece in July 2021, following the completion of the search and identification procedure, within the framework of the exhumation programme of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and the respective programme of the Republic of Cyprus, and his bones were buried at a site in the Tomb of the Unknown Artilleryman Memorial at the Artillery School.
Two hundred and thirty-eight cadets took the oath, of whom two hundred and seven from Greece, twenty-three from Cyprus, two from Armenia, two from Montenegro, two from Tunisia, one from Albania, and one from Moldova.