LIEUTENANT General Evangelos Florakis, 59, was appointed Commander of the National Guard in May 2000 after retiring from military service in Greece. He was born in 1943 in Arta and entered the Military Cadet Academy in 1962. He graduated four years later and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. His subsequent training included Infantry School, Unit Commander’s School, Paratrooper School and Physical Training School. He was also trained in special weapons and unconventional warfare, and attended the Hellenic Army War College and the Hellenic National Defence College. In 1994 he was promoted to Brigadier General and served as Deputy Commander in the 15th Infantry Division and in the 50th Infantry Brigade as Commander. After promotion to Major General in 1996, Florakis was appointed Commander of the 16th Mechanised Infantry Division and then posted to the Hellenic Army War College. In 1999 he assumed command of B Army Corps. Lt. General Florakis leaves a wife, Athina, and two daughters, Helen, 24, and Stephanie, 20.
Also killed yesterday was Air Force Chief Vassilis Demenagas, 50. Born in 1952 on the island of Kea in the Cyclades, his military career began in flight school in 1970. He graduated in 1974 as a pilot officer.
In 1974 he became a fighter pilot, flying missions for 23 years. He served as a Deputy Commander and then Commander of a squadron rising, to Commander of a Battle Wing. He was also on the general staff of the Greek Air Force, serving as head of operations for air-defence planning.
In July 2001 he assumed command of the Air Force in Cyprus. He leaves a wife, Eleftheria, and two children Frankiskos, 19, and Maria, 17.
Three other officers lost their lives in the crash, Naval Lieutenant Nicos Georgiou, and Flight Lieutenants Paris Athanassiades and Michalis Shiakallis.
Flt. Lt. Athanassiades, 33, was born on March 14, 1969, in Famagusta. He went to flight school in 1987 and graduated on May 30, 1991, as a Flying Officer.
In December 1994 he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and four years later became a helicopter commander. He leaves behind a wife, Maria, and daughters Stella, 9, Egli, 5, and Andrea, 11 months.
Lt. Georgiou, 30, was born in Cameroon on October 12, 1971. He grew up in Cyprus after his family moved to the island when he was three. He went to Navy school in 1988 and graduated in June 1992 as a midshipman. He served in various units and on ships in the Greek Navy rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1999.
From August 1999 he served in Cyprus on patrol boats until being transferred to the office of the National Guard Chief of General Staff in September 2000, where he served as adjutant to General Florakis.
First Lieutenant Michalis Shiakallis, 26, was born on April 5, 1976. He went to flight school in 1994, graduating in 1998 as a Flying Officer. On December 31, 2001 he was promoted to First Lieutenant, and served as a co-pilot in the helicopter division. He was single.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
