LANCASTER, PA – The Lancaster Historical Society hosted Gust. C. Kraras, now 94 years old, on June 11. Kraras is one of the oldest surviving members of the Office of Strategic Services (which preceded the CIA), and a veteran of numerous missions behind enemy lines in World War II.
Born in Terspithea, Greece, Kraras immigrated to the United States in 1938 at age 17 and worked various jobs. After the attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941), Kraras volunteered to join the U.S. Army.
He fought in World War II, having served in the 101st Airborne Division; 82nd Airborne Division; 122nd Infantry Battalion (The Greek Battalion), as well as the OSS.
As an OSS commando, Kraras crossed enemy lines in Greece, ambushing Germany convoys. As he told the Reading Eagle in an interview several years ago, “we’d use a bazooka to disable the first and last truck, then open up on the rest with everything we had. When we were finished, nothing much would be left, and we’d go back up into the hills.”
MEDALS AWARDED
Presidential Unit Citation
Bronze Star Medal
British Paratrooper Wings
American Paratrooper Wings
Special Forces named the OSS OG’s as the
Grandfather of Special Forces and placed a
plaque at Fort Bragg, NC to indicate this.
GREEK GOVERNMENT
In 1993, awarded in Washington, DC the
“Coin of Macedonian Kings”
In 2005, Special Medal by the Ministry of
Greek National Defense
In 2007, a Plaque by the Greek Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
Kraras continues to be a pillar in the parish of Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Reading, PA, where he regularly chants on Sundays and other Holy days, and works in the kitchen during the Church’s annual bazaar.
NEW YORK, NY – The famous “RESTAURANT” sign outside of the fictional “Monk’s Café” on the iconic TV sitcom Seinfeld is really Tom’s Restaurant in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood, close to Columbia University and for decades a regular feeding and watering hole for Columbia students. The New York Times recently featured Tom’s in a food journey of New York relevant to the Seinfeld show. The tour, of course, includes The Original Soup Man, which was actually made famous by the show’s classic “Soup Nazi” episode.
Tom’s was sold to a Greek immigrant Tom (Thanasi) Jikas decades ago, who later sold it to other Greeks, Nik Petakas and Minas Zoulis. Zoulis’ cousin’s son, Michael Zoulis, is the current owner.
LOS ANGELES, CA – The firestorm of controversy over former Spokane, WA NAACP head Rachel Dolezal, who stepped down amid a media frenzy that she is not really African-American at all, brought to mind – and press – references of another high-profile individual who, though Greek-American, identified himself as African-American: Johnny Otis. Otis, who was born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotis in Vallejo, CA. His father, Alexander, owned a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, and Otis soon self-identified as African-American. A singer-songrwriter, bandleader, and impresario, Otis had a profound effect on American R&B and early rock and roll. He also discovered numerous musicians who went on to become legends, not least of all Etta James. He is widely known in musical circles as “the original king of rock and roll” and “the godfather of rhythm and blues.” Otis died in Los Angeles in 2012 at age 90, but his music lives on and, given Dolezal’s recent media spotlight, so does his conscious decision to identify with a race into which he was not born, but around which he was raised.
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