The last of six brothers and sisters to pass away, Dimitry Statharos was born in the town of Vizo, in a portion of Eastern Thrace now occupied by Turkey. In 1922 his family fled in the wake of the Turkish invasion and settled in the town of Gidas (Alexandria), Greece. In 1926 his father died leaving his mother to care for the family and the family farm. In 1940 Dimitry entered the Greek Army a year early due to an error in his birth certificate that stated his year of birth as 1919 rather than 1920. He was a highly trained driver/mechanic posted to the Greek Heavy Artillery of the 13th Division of the Greek Army III Corps. In 1940 when the Italians invaded he had an opportunity to take medical leave and miss the war in Albania entirely due to a serious injury to his foot. Instead he begged the doctor to let him remain with his unit and go on to the front lines. What followed was several months of harsh winter fighting at temperatures which reached 40 degrees below zero in the snow covered landscape of the Albanian mountains and countryside. Covered in lice and unable to bathe they battled back the better equipped and numerically superior Italian forces for 6 months. His unit was part of the force that spearheaded the Greek drive into Albania, capturing the strategic town of Koritsa which electrified and gave the world hope at a time when Allied armies everywhere were giving ground to the Axis forces on various fronts. When the Germans invaded Greece to save the Italians from the Albanian quagmire in April 1941, Dimitry made his way to Metsovo where he saw the surrender party of General Tsolakogolu, Commander of III Corps, on its way to meet and surrender to the Germans.

In 1943, during the German occupation Dimitry was drafted into the Greek Police (Ethelontiki Chorophylaki) and assigned to work under the German Kommandantur in Katerini. During this time he was primarily stationed as a guard at a German Secret Field Police (Geheime Feldpolizei) prison in the town of Katerini. It was there on July 4th, 1943 that he first met my grandmother who had been savagey interrogated by the German Kommandant and Evangelic Priest, Benjamin Locher. In the weeks that followed Dimitry did all he could to protect my grandmother and nurse her back to health. He also smuggled messages out to her family and others who could help gain her release. Also during this time he used his position with the Greek Police to help numerous people, including several Jews, avoid being arrested by the German authorities. One time he overheard the orders being given to arrest a Jewish friend of his. He raced out of the police station to find his friend, he found the man at work painting a wall and told him to escape, the man fled and as Dimitry turned to leave he saw the police officers who were sent to arrest the man coming from the other direction, they and dimitry passed each other on the street; the man had been saved by Dimitrys quick thinking and a matter of less than two minutes. Another time on the train when some germans entered the train a man he was talking to whispered to him that he was a Jew, Dimitry pretended to arrest him so that he could hustle him past the German military police who entered the train to check identity papers. By the end of 1943 Dimitry left his work with the police by simply refusing to go to work. In June 1944, Dimitry joined the ELAS forces in Mount Vermio above the town of Verria. During that summer he participated in several raids against German troops and transport including several missions that he went on with the British SOE Team operating out of Mount Vermio.

Dimitry also served in the Greek Civil war from 1945-1948 as an ambulance driver in a mobile hospital unit. In total, he served four times in three wars over an 8 year period for both the Allied and Axis powers.

In 1998 I discovered my grandfather's past when I asked him for the first time how he met my grandmother. Thereafter, I commenced an oral history project which spanned 3 summers and two countries. I interviewed him, my grandmother and the wife of the German soldier that helped my grandfather operate an illegal radio in his home. The stories I learned and facts I uncovered were simply incredible. I have many hours of tape and interview transcripts which have become my most prized possessions.

He was a farmer from the small town of Gidas who found himself caught up in the maelstrom of worldwide conflict, finding his way through it more by luck and small twists of fate than anything within his ability to control. A true warrior who was a pillar of courage and who maintained his integrity under the most harrowing of circumstances, making difficult split second decisions that often saved the lives of other people he hardly knew including my grandmother and her family. He died on August 7th, 2006 with his most personal possessions in his coat pocket among which included a photo of me and him taken when we first met in 1987. This photo is the one above.

It was this farmer from Gidas who risked his life for my family and gave me the life I now enjoy. I will be reminded of this each time I look into the faces of my family in Greece. Faces that would not be here had it not been for his kind heart in those dark hours of July 1943.

When I last saw him in July he was barely conscious. I wanted so much to thank him for everything he did in those days but I did not have the chance.

I loved him dearly and cherished the time we spent together. May the hand of God now guide him to a better place where he will find eternal peace.