On Sunday, 22 May 2022, the official celebrations for the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Crete took place in Hania, including a doxology at the Metropolitan Church of the Presentation of the Theotokos in the morning and the closing ceremony at the Battle of Crete Memorial (Maleme Airfield, Hania) in the afternoon.
The events were attended by the Deputy Minister of Climate Change and Civil Protection, Mr. Evangelos Tournas, as representative of the government, the MP for Hania, Mr. Vasilis Digalakis, as representative of the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Mr. Trevor Mallard, and the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Charalampos Lalousis, as representative of the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff.
The events were also attended by Members of Parliament, the Head of the Region of Crete, Mr. Stavros Arnaoutakis, the Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronas, Mr. Damaskinos (for the morning doxology), the Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selino, Mr. Amphilochios (for the closing ceremony), the Ambassadors to Greece of Great Britain, Mr. Matthew Lodge (morning doxology), Australia, Mr. Athanasios Spyrou, the Ambassador of New Zealand in Rome, Mr. Anthony Simpson, the political attaché of the Embassy of Canada, Mr. Walter Bernyck, the Chargé d’ Affaires of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ms. Heike Dettmann, the Chief of Hellenic Navy General Staff, Vice Admiral Stylianos Petrakis HN, the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lieutenant General (HAF) Themistoklis Bourolias, and representatives of the local government.
#ΕλληνικόςΣτρατός, #HellenicArmy