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- Ελληνικά
A sacred duty has drawn our footsteps here today in this holy place, where the silence is interrupted only by the mass and the whisper of prayers, in order to pay the proper honours and address the last salute to a worthy son of the fatherland.
Evangelos Evangelos, Sergeant Engineer,
Modestly and humbly, as you yourself have been in your short but full of service to your country life, we reverently bow our heads to your indestructible form and proclaim you to eternity.
For fifty years, half a century of pain, anguish and stoic patience for your loved ones, your name was among the long and tragic list of our missing. Today, together with your family, relatives, friends and comrades-in-arms of the 70th Engineer Battalion, it is with shock and deep reverence that we attend your funeral service.
With sorrow and immense respect for your sacred remains, we will shortly accompany you, with honours and crowns of glory, to your final resting place to rest in peace. In the darkest moments of our history, when the treacherous coup d'état and the brutal Turkish invasion cast a deep darkness over Cyprus, the 70th Engineer Battalion stood up heroes who represented the steadfast Greek spirit of resistance and love for their land.
In the darkest moments of our history, when the treacherous coup d'état and the brutal Turkish invasion cast a deep darkness over Cyprus, the 70th Engineer Battalion stood up heroes who represented the steadfast Greek spirit of resistance and love for their land.
The story of Evangelos, like all the other heroic fallen of the Engineers, in the struggle to defend Cypriot freedom, is a martyr's anthem.
An anthem of self-sacrifice and absolute dedication to the mission they undertook. An eternal hymn written in blood, bravery and humanity. A hymn that will leave an indelible mark on the hearts and souls of our people. It will leave indelibly written an ode flooded with the values of humanity, bravery and unyielding faith in the just cause.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Evangelos Evangellou was born on 20 July 1954 in Nicosia. After his schooling, he joined the National Guard in 1972. He completed his basic training with the rank of Sergeant and was assigned to the 70th Engineer Battalion, which was based at Camp BMH in Nicosia.
In the first months of 1974, almost all the personnel of the Battalion were engaged in the construction of the Famagusta Holiday Centre. From April onwards, following instructions given by the Engineering Command of the General Staff, training was given in mine warfare, destruction and ground organisation, while, among other things, reconnaissance was carried out on movement routes, mine laying and minefield sites and the recording of mine storage areas.
On the evening of 19 July 1974, one day before the beginning of the Turkish invasion, three combat missions departed from the square of the Battalion, where today the monument to the heroes of the 70th Engineer Battalion is located, following an order received by the Unit.
A platoon of the 1st Company, led by Lieutenant Efstratios Katsoulotos, went to the area of Pentagia - Morphou - Lefka and after laying a number of minefields returned to the Battalion's headquarters.
The 2nd Company, led by Lieutenant Ilias Papanikos, went to the Famagusta area, where under the 1st Higher Tactical Command it laid minefields on the Famagusta - Trikomou coastal front of a total front of about 4 km.
A platoon of the Command Company, led by Lieutenant Panagiotis Panagopoulos, moved to Kyrenia under the command of the 3rd Tactical Group.
The Platoon, surprisingly, instead of being ordered to proceed to mine the Five and Six Mile beach front, received orders to lay two minefields on the Acapulco and Pachyammos coasts and participated in infantry missions, carrying out ambushes at Templos and the 251 Infantry Battalion Camp, west of Kyrenia. Subsequently, he laid a large number of minefields from Agios Epiktitos to Mia Milia, while preparing destructions on the Nicosia - Kyrenia road network, in the Klepinis area and on the mountain road of Vufavento in Pentadaktylos.
The first two sections, after the first missions, returned to the Battalion headquarters, undertook route minesweeping missions on the western front and the neutralization of unexploded ordnance on the front line in the Nicosia area.
On 5 August an Engineer Company, led by Lieutenant Katsoulotos, moved to the Lapithos - Karavas area to carry out a daylight minesweeping mission. A mission which unfortunately ended in tragedy.
Although the minefield was almost completely levelled by the evening of 5 August, the Company's personnel were ordered to remain in front of the National Guard lines and at arm's length from the Turkish troops in order to continue their mission the next day.
This decision proved to be fatal.
On the morning of 6 August, on the day of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, the Turkish army, which had been busy the previous day amassing personnel and resources in the area, launched a powerful attack on the National Guard forces.
Of the personnel of the Engineer Company who were in the area, after a staggering fight to the last, together with the rest of the meagre National Guard forces, only 22 of the 53 men managed, some swimming, helplessly and by every available means, to escape and save themselves.
The remaining 31 did not manage to return.
The remaining 31 did not make it back. The names of several of them, until recently including that of Evangelos, are still included in the list of missing persons from the Turkish invasion. This is where, for fifty years, the saddest aspect of the drama that marked Cyprus in the summer of 1974 continues to be played out. Where for fifty years the charged hymn of loss, uncertainty and unspeakable grief echoes unceasingly. Where for fifty years an endless battle has been waged to search for and determine the fate of our missing persons.
Engineer Sergeant Evangelos Evangelos Evangellou,
The cycle of uncertainty and drama that your family experienced today is finally coming to an end. We bid you farewell and see you off on your final journey. Where you will meet your mother and father. Those who, along with your brothers and sisters, for decades have spent the night agonizing and waiting for your return. Those who experienced the tragic absence of their beloved son and "left" with the uncertainty and unbearable pain of loss etched in their hearts and souls. Where you will meet your late comrades in the 70th Engineer Battalion. Those who together, with unparalleled determination and self-denial, threw themselves into the battle to defend the freedom of our homeland.
Today you return as a hero to the bowels of the land that gave birth to you, raised you and for five decades embraced you as a missing person. Your memory as an inexhaustible legacy, as a sacred heritage and as an inexhaustible source of contingency will strengthen our will to continue the struggle for liberation and return to our ancestral homes.
At this time of deep sorrow we bow to your venerable figure and renew our pledge that we will remain faithful to the effort to achieve our supreme national goal.
Your sacrifice, like that of all the honoured braves who fell for altars and hearths in the betrayed summer of 1974, is the beacon that will guide our national steps in the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.
Your people, Evangelos, will always remember you as the "ambassador of virtue". As your primary school teachers used to call you.
Your country and the National Guard, which you served with faith and dedication, are grateful to you. Our respect, admiration, appreciation and pride will accompany you forever.
May your memory be eternal and the earth that covers you be light.
(NΓian/GS)
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