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Doundoulakis, George J.

Date of birth:
1921 (Detroit/Michigan, United States)
Date of death:
2007
Nationality:
American (1776 - present, Republic)

Biography

When George J. Doundoulakis was four, his family emigrated to Crete, Greece. After the Battle of Crete, George led a resistance organization with the help of the SOE, from 1941 to 1943. He was instrumental in planning and carrying out numerous sabotages, such as the bombing of the Kastelli Airfield. Most notably, he obtained information resulting in the destruction of a German convoy that left Crete on September 26, 1942 destined for North Africa. With this information George received and which was relayed to Captain Thomas Dunbabin of the SOE, this troop convoy was intercepted and destroyed. Eventually his group was betrayed, and at the request of SOE agents C.M. Woodhouse, Thomas Dunbabin, and Patrick Leigh Fermor, he and his brother, Helias, were evacuated to Lybia by torpedo boat. Both enlisted in the United States Army in Egypt, and were recruited into the OSS. George was sent to Volos, and Helias to Salonica, Greece. George organized and armed some 8,000 leftist ELAS partisans who were responsible for numerous sabotage missions in and around the Mount Pylion region.
After the war, he was educated as a physicist, and his many inventions were patented and supported with the help of his friend and business partner, former CIA Director William J. Casey, also an OSS-decorated veteran. He died in 2007.

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Sources

  • Photo 1: Rose Eve Doundoulakis
  • - Family Records

Photo