Image by Victor Radziun via FlickrFor almost fifty years, Vasiliki Lambidou raised the Greek flag every day in the village of Marasia, which is located in Greece’s remote northeast that borders with Turkey. She died over the weekend at the age of 107. A simple act, as some would say, but it was this very act that elevated Vassiliki to national status.
Lambidou, whose family was among hundreds of thousands who were part of a population exchange with Turkey following a war in 1921, has been honoured numerous times by Greek regional and national authorities. She had lived in the same house a few dozen yards (meters) from the Greek-Turkish border along the Evros river since 1962 and she raised the Greek flag over her home every single day since then.
Lambidou was adored by generations of army conscripts for whom she cooked and did laundry for, much in the way many moms do, while they manned a guard post near her house. The young soldiers would reciprocate by giving their adopted mom food and wood for her fireplace. Numerous photographs of soldiers who served in this area still decorate the walls of her home.
Kalo Taksidi Vassili
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