Under a sky that “turned a little bit wild,” rain came in bursts but the crowd did not budge at Melbourne’s Australian Hellenic Memorial at the foot of the Shrine of Remembrance.
A small crowd gathered to mark the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Kalamata, with umbrellas raised, wreaths in hand and a determination to show how the Anzac-Hellenic bond continues to inspire rain, hail or shine.
Led by MC Peter Andrinopoulos, the annual commemoration by the Society of Kalamata 23rd March honoured one of the final, desperate chapters of the Greek campaign in World War II..
Organising committee president Sam Vlachos told The Greek Herald that while his mother’s generation lived through the war, it was their children who ensured Kalamata was finally given the recognition it long deserved.
“It hadn’t received the recognition it should have,” he said, aiming to change that.
In his address, Vlachos drew the audience back to April 1941: 20,000 Allied troops, Australians, New Zealanders, as well as Greeks, Cypriots, even Palestinians, and Indians crowded the Kalamata waterfront, scrambling for evacuation as German forces closed in.
“I’d like to take you back some 85 years,” Sam said, recounting the Allied movements across mainland Greece, invoking a deeper historical echo, Leonidas and the Spartans: resistance not for victory, but to deny the enemy, even at the edge of extinction.
That defiance was not myth. It lived in men like Sergeant Jack Hinton, awarded the Victoria Cross during the German Panzer assault, and Captain Albert Gray, who received the Military Cross. Both were eventually captured.
“They should never be forgotten,” Vlachos said.
More than 300 Australians now lie buried in Kalamata.
“It is important that we all, as Australians and as Greeks, remember those who served in Greece during WWII.”
For some, the connection did not end with the war. Private Sid Grant carried Greece home with him, naming his Australian soldier-settlement farm “Kalamata” in gratitude for the courage and kindness of the Greek people.
And 85 years on, that gratitude flows both ways.
Greek Consul General to Melbourne, Dimitra Georgantzoglou, addressed the crowd in Greek, honouring those who risked everything to protect Allied troops.
“Eighty-five years on, the friendship between our countries has grown even stronger,” she said. “We remember not only the bravery of those who fought, but the courage of those who sheltered them.”
Though Kalamata ultimately fell, she noted, the legacy of those who fought there did not.
“The heroic example of Australian and New Zealand troops who stood beside Greek soldiers has passed into history, and that is why we honour them today.”
The ceremony drew a cross-section of community and leadership, bridging generations and cultures. Representing the Victorian Government, Lee Tarlamis MP delivered a message on behalf of Ministers Ingrid Stitt and Natalie Suleyman, reminding attendees that this history is not distant.
“It is not just part of our history, it is part of our identity,” he said. “We must keep these memories alive, learn from their sacrifice, and continue to build on the bonds forged all those years ago.”
The RSL community stood firmly among them. Vietnam veteran Derek Baskerville, newly elected President of the Doncaster RSL, reflected on the enduring values behind the ceremony.
“Respect has a lot to do with society, respecting one another and supporting community,” he said.
Chrysanthi, a Year 10 student from Oakleigh Grammar, said her teacher Natasha Spanos had spoken to them the importance of studyingcaptured it simply:
“If people don’t turn up to these events, they will stop and lose their importance. It reminds us of who we are.”
That idea of continuity runs deep in the Society itself.
Formed in 1983 after a conversation between families in Melbourne’s Greek community, the Society of Kalamata 23rd March grew from a living-room discussion into a 63-member founding group at Sts Constantine and Helen in South Yarra. Today, it stands as a custodian of memory, proof that diaspora history is not inherited passively, but built deliberately.
As Captain Jordy Ballisat of the New Zealand Defence Force observed, the meaning of “alliance” is simple.
“Together,” he said. “You need to unite and respect each other’s culture and history, especially when you’ve fought alongside them.”
By the ceremony’s end, the rain had softened, but the mood lingered, solemn, warm, connected. Attendees stayed on for coffee, biscuits, and quiet conversation.
