Memoirs of Peter Boudoures Chapter 36 Greek War Relief, 1942

Boudoures, Greeks, meet with President Roosevelt

Later in 1940 there were other problems. Benito Mussolini, a pal of Adolf Hitler, had gotten too big for his shoes. He had prophesized that Hitler would win the war against Britain after France, Belgium, Poland, Denmark and Norway were occupied by Germany. After the British armies were defeated in Dunkirk, Mussolini decided to get into the war so he could demand a bigger share of the spoils. He had always had his eye on Albania and had occupied it by that time. Italy had taken some of the Greek Islands from Turkey in 1911. Now, he wanted to make Greece a part of the Kingdom of Italy.

I am no historian so I don't want to dwell on this too long. Mussolini had provoked the Greeks on several occasions, but they did not respond. On October 28, 1940, he instructed his Ambassador in Athens to deliver an ultimatum to John Metaxas, Dictator of Greece at that time, to demand that the Italian Army be given access to specific Greek areas. John Metaxas gave a one word answer, "Ohi," which means "No." He then called upon the Greek People to march to the front and to fight the aggressor. The Greeks were divided at that time because they did not believe in the dictatorship, but they put aside their political differences and marched to the front lines on the Albanian Border. During the first few days of the invasion the Italian forces marched into Northern Greece. Everyone in this country, including the late Paul Malone of the San Francisco Examiner, predicted that Greece would not last a week. They cited the fact that Poland, a much larger nation with ten times the army, succumbed in two weeks. To the surprise of one and all, the Greek Army turned the tables and started driving the Italians out of Greece.

On November 1, 1940, I received a telegram from His Eminence, Archbishop Athenagoras, in New York, informing me that I was appointed to be Regional Director of the Greek War Relief for the eleven Western States. The Greek War Relief was newly formed for the purpose of assisting Greece, both with money and material. I was to attend the first meeting of the Board of Directors in New York at the St. Moritz Hotel in three days. Even though I was known to the Archbishop, I believe that it was William Helis who suggested to him that he appoint me chairman.

I should go back a little. Before we learned about the Greek War Relief, a local committee was formed in San Francisco to raise money, supplies and whatever else was needed to aid the Greek cause. I was asked to assume the local chairmanship by our Counsel General, Ilias Piheon, Father Lokis, Dr. Peter Angel, Angelo Papulias, John Vellis and a number of others. I received a telephone call from Tassos Mountanos, the publisher of the Greek newspaper, "California." He told me that he wanted to meet with me to discuss the war relief.

He was unaware of the plans that we were formulating, so at the meeting I brought him up to date. He urged me to accept the responsibility and said that I would have the full co-operation of his newspaper at no cost whatsoever. He also stated that he would turn over to me whatever money he had collected up to that time. He even had a friend who was willing to buy an airplane for the use of the Greek War Relief. I had accepted this responsibility in San Francisco before the telegram came from New York.

Before I left for New York, I took advantage of the two days notice and contacted people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico as well as California and the Bay Area. I asked them to work and co-operate with me on this project. They all were willing to do so.

The credit for my being appointed Chairman of the Greek War Relief in the Eleven Western States goes to the Order of AHEPA. For fifteen years I had attended meetings all over the country, especially in the West, met a lot of people and become well known. Just about everyone that I had contacted to help in the West was a member of AHEPA. I made an effort to select people who had proven that they could get things done. Friendship was secondary in my mind.