CULTURE

Farewell to soldier, author, respected friend of journalists

A farewell to the brave «Soldier on the Albanian Front» and tireless folklore writer, Professor Dimitris S. Loukatos. Loukatos, that respected friend of journalists who used his books for inspiration and information, always looked forward to the end of October, with its fine fall weather, as the saying goes, «St Dimitris’s little summer;» for tomorrow, October 26, would have been his name day. Then the national holiday of October 28 was for Loukatos, as for all Greeks who fought for their country in the mountains of Albania, a memorable day. His book, «Soldier on the Albanian Front: Diary Notes 1940-1941,» not only relates the events he experienced in the trenches and on the battlefields but is a testament to his fellow soldiers. He wanted to guard the «shadow» of the living detail in his diary notes, written on the front. «In reliving them, I related the events we lived through and the agony of the fighters, even of the Italians on the opposite side,» he said. The book was published in 2002 by Potamos Publications in the old, accented script «so as not to lose our Alexandrian tradition.» He was 95 years old, in poor health, plagued by a cough, but his bright mind was still sharp, particularly on the subject of folklore, where his knowledge was unique. «I am tired,» he had told his family. He refused to go to hospital, as his doctor advised. And on the evening of October 23, at his home among his books in Palaio Faliron, he passed on quietly.

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