This year, the country is celebrating the 80th anniversary of that difficult end to the peak of World War II.

In 1943, Italy capitulated, and fierce fighting took place in Sicily and the Dodecanese, where the British failed to capture some of the key Aegean islands, such as Leros.

In all these military events, the Greeks, who managed to escape with their own forces or with our emigrating fleet in the Middle East, played a leading role, showing courage and selflessness. Thousands of our compatriots who threw themselves into the flames of war, having no contact with their enslaved parents, wives and children. Almost all representatives of this generation passed away, few survived.

. Unfortunately, two of the latter, Ioannis Stratakis and Antonis Murtziadis, passed away a few days ago. At the same time, the much younger German writer Peter Schenck, a dentist by trade, a maritime history lover who devoted his entire life to researching the subject, with a focus on Greece, died.

Ioannis Stratakis, the last living hero of our fleet and one of the first naval pilots whom I was fortunate enough to meet in October, was already 102 years old, but he was very kind and remembered the incredible events of that time. He entered the Naval Cadet School in 1937 and graduated three years later with the rank of combat ensign. He also attended the Air Force Comprehensive School and the Submarine School. He served on surface ships, submarines and in parts of the naval cooperation of the Air Force, as well as in staff and administrative positions. During the Greco-Italian and Greco-German wars, he was part of the naval squadron of the Air Force, based in Dhekelia Attica, then in Tanagra and Elliniko. He traveled to the Middle East with the destroyer Aetos and took part in allied operations with the Miauli and the Nireus I submarine. He was rewarded for his deed, and with the advent of the colonels he left the fleet.

Anthony Murtziadis had a very different story. Born in Polis, grandfather of grandfather Romios, he volunteered, like hundreds of others of his age. In fact, many of the inhabitants of Constantinople knew that by enlisting in the Greek army, they would forever lose the opportunity to return to Turkey, as their country had warned them that they would not be allowed to return. Because of his political views, Murtziadis was imprisoned in the Middle East and then spent many decades of his life in the countries of the then Eastern Bloc. Philhellene Peter Schenck was one of the greatest connoisseurs of the records and sources of the Battle of Leros and wrote the great book The War in the Aegean. The memory of the events should not be lost along with the lives of people. We all have a responsibility to protect him.