A sweet sound brought to the ears of the people of Rhodes the news that on March 30, 1947 Vice Admiral Periklis Ioannidis [uncle of King Paul], the first [Greek] Governor to replace the British military governor of two years, was arriving.

Thus the end of the long-lasting servitude of the Dodecanesians had finally come.

As such, Vice Admiral Periklis Ioannidis is coming.

At the crack of dawn the people of the island are on foot to welcome the first Greek Governor.

At the location ‘Epta Vagies’ [on Rodiniou Street near Agia Anastasia], the people gathered along with the delegations of the two sports clubs then existing in the city of Rhodes, Diagoras and Dorieas, to depart for the Kalathos airport.

The Philharmonic of Diagoras was ready at the offices of the National Stadium, but the responsible British officials had not arranged for transportation.

The Diagoras delegation consisted of Varnavas Kyramanos, accountant; Argyris Theoharis, merchant; and Ierotheos Shizas, chief musician. The delegation of Dorieas consisted of the undersigned [Gabriel Missios] in charge, and Efstratios Katsaras, chief accountant of the city of Rhodes; Emmanuil Sav. Diakosavvas, municipal employee; and Aggelos Gialloutsis, shoe maker.

Ahead of the associational delegations, the Philharmonic is proceeding trumpeting the awakening of the residents of the villages along the route from Rhodes to the airport in Kalathos.

The Mayor of the city of Rhodes is Gabriel Haritos.

Significantly ahead of the arrival of the airplane a multitude from the surrounding villages has gathered inundating the space around the airport terminal.

The Philharmonic is entertaining the crowd whose anticipation is rising.

Suddenly, hats and scarves wave from the excitement and tears of emotion fill the eyes of the eagerly-awaiting crowd.

The sound of the airplane’s engine is now noticeable and the sight of the airplane causes indescribable excitement.

In a few minutes, the first Governor Vice Admiral Perilkis Ioannides descends from the airplane.

In his left hand, he is holding a white cardboard box which he hands over to Mayor Haritos at the same time as his salute.

This is the official flag of the nation which will be raised the next day at the Governor’s building.

Hearing about the flag created a lively movement by the attending veterans eager to receive it, but the white box with the invaluable contents was already in the steam-engine automobile of the Dorieas delegation, thanks to the timely intervention of our directors.

The automobile of Dorieas is steam-engine driven, but the departure signal has not been given, and the situation gets more entangled with the veterans demanding the flag.

At last, we depart.

With much difficulty and thanks to the great skill of our driver, we managed to find ourselves ninth in the line of 90 or more vehicles small and large.

We dare to open the box at Masari.

Giallousis is holding the crown’s emblem outside the window, while the rest of us are holding firmly the main body of the flag, so that the crowds would not snatch it from us, as we are only moving at 12-14 km/h inside the inhabited part of the villages Malonas, Arhaggelos, Afantou, Koskinou, and Asgourou.

There are no words in the dictionary to properly describe what was going on at each stop at the appearance of the Admiral.

The flag becomes an object of kneeling and veneration by the elderly men and women.

And the delirium of the people of Rhodes explodes eighty-fold at Epta Vagies, that is at the entrance to the city.

The vehicles cannot proceed and no one is able to hold back the crowd which is determined to approach the Governor.

At that location, the clergy of the city are gathered, headed by the eldest among them, Fr. Venedikton Venetoklis.

The long-serving priest, at the sight of the flag knelt along with his fellow priests and raising his hands cried out: “Νυν απολυεις τον δουλον σου Κυριε” (“Now you can take your servant Lord”) [Luke 2: 25-35. Elder Symeon upon holding Christ at His 40-day presentation in the temple].

He embraced and kissed the flag tearfully.

This great luck and honor was bestowed upon our athletic clubs headed by the undersigned [Gabriel Missios] to carry the first official national Greek flag of the freed Dodecanese.

Gabriel Missios of Rhodes, Honorary President of the Union of the Football Clubs of Dodecanese [ΕΠΣΔ], wrote this account dated February 2, 1957. It was shared with the Pan-Rhodian Society of America ‘Apollon’ in honor of the anniversary of Dodecanese unification with Greece, by the author’s son, Erodotos Missios, who translated the original Greek text to English.