The policy elite in Washington, D.C., from Capitol Hill, the Obama Administration, the American media, American think tanks and others celebrated heroes who exhibit today the courage displayed by modern history's most consequential Davids vs. Goliaths for democracy -- the Greek people in WWII. In addition to the hundreds who were involved in the award nomination process, dozens of government officials, media leaders, think tank experts and business leaders participated in the ceremonies that took place in Washington, DC October 24th - 25th, at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns, 6th and I Historic Synagogue, the US Institute for Peace, the National WWII Memorial and the black tie award dinner at the historic Willard InterContinental Hotel.
During the Second Annual Washington Oxi Day Foundation Celebration the following were honored:
Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese human rights activist who blanketed the American media when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought him to America in May, received the Oxi Day Award; Dr. Fouzia Saeed, one of Pakistan's most prominent women's rights advocates, received the Battle of Crete Award; Elie Wiesel, the world's most highly-regarded and well-known holocaust survivor and human rights advocate, received theMetropolitan Chrysostomos Award; Ben Gilman, the former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs received the Greatest Generation Award given to an American WWII hero; Brigadier General Mike Cokinos, received the Greatest Generation Award given to a Greek-American WWII hero; Antonios Kounalakis, received the Greatest Generation Award given to a Greek WWII hero.
Early in the morning of October 28, 1940, the Italian ambassador to Athens visited Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, requesting that Greece allows free passage of Italian forces through her territory. Without hesitation or further consultation, Metaxas responded “no” (oxi, in Greek) on the spot, opening another glorious page in the history of Greece and the free world.
It took only four days for the outnumbered and ill equipped Greek forces to repel the massive Italian attack and to start an epic chain of victories – THE FIRST AGAINST THE AXIS ARMIES DURING WWII – that culminated with the liberation of a big swath of Greek-inhabited territory within Albania. Seeing his ally facing total defeat, Hitler decided to invade Greece as well, with the help of Bulgaria. While, it took less than two weeks for mighty France to fall, the Axis powers spent more than six months to succumb Greece, disrupting Hitler’s war timetable, since he was forced into the debilitating Russian winter where he met defeat.
Leaders like Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, America’s Sumner Welles and even Adolph Hitler’s Chief of Staff, Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel, credit Greece with bringing about Nazi’s defeat. “The Greeks delayed by two or more vital months the German attack against Russia; if we did not have this long delay, the outcome of the war would have been different,” said Keitel.
In 1940, Greece’s Defeat of the Seemingly Undefeatable Axis Forces Inspired the World. President Franklin Roosevelt said “When the entire world had lost all hope, the Greek people dared to question the invincibility of the German monster raising against it the proud spirit of freedom.”
