Object ID
2011.6.179
Object Name
Letter
Date Created
April 16, 1945
Material
Paper
Object Entities
Karalis, Elena (is related to)
Gianakopulos, John (is related to)
Patton, G.S. (is related to)
Access Points
Object Description
A letter to the commanding General of the 95th Infantry Division, APO 95, U.S. Army. The letter is about the achievements that the division accomplished, such as capturing a fortified city of Metz and the attacks they had to fight off. On the top of the letter it says, "Headquarters Third United States Army. Office of the Commanding General APO 403." The subject of the letter is commendation and it was written on April 16, 1945. At the bottom there is a blue oval with a red 9 and a white V. It is signed by G. S. Patton, Jr. and on the bottom there are two other signatures. Also at the bottom, "Tec 5 John L. Gianakopulos, 36356282," is stamped above the two signatures.
Origin
The donors grandfather, Gus Gianakopulos, came to America with 200 youths from the Sparta area around the time of 1881. Mr.Chaconas was in charge of the trip and when they arrived in Chicago all 200 of them were put in one room together and bought each one of them a push wagon. The group of people would sell one product a day using their push wagons. In 1893 the Gus became a US citizen and was working in the fruit and vegetable wholesale business. He later went back to Greece to visit but called the US his country. In 1900 a few men went back to Greece to get married and on their way back they brought the donors grandmother, Georgia, to Chicago, where her father and brother were. Gus and Georgia got married in December 1901 at the Holy Trinity Church and they invited all Greeks and the story is that there were 98 carriages that attended the reception. They had several children, first a boy then a girl named dasiy, then the donor's mother Pauline, next were two sisters, Virgina and Eleanor, and last was John. The Spartans in the area started a church in a building on South Water Street, but the priest had decided to go back to Greece. In 1908-1909 they built what is now the Annunciation Cathedral on LaSalle Street and in 1910 the church was completed. This church is where the whole family was baptized, married, and burried. The family lived on the north side of Chicago so any Greek schools were too far away for them to attend so a greek teacher came in Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 25 years. The donors mother, Pauline went to Forest Academy to studied dress design and not much after that she met her husband and moved to Minneapolis in 1929. The two worked and helped out the church they were members of quite a bit. They traveled a lot and often went to Greece but in 1970 he passed away. They had two children, George and Elena and after her husband passed away Pauline and Elena went on many different trips around the world.
Rights and Reproduction
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Citation
Letter, April 16, 1945, National Hellenic Museum, https://collections.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/Detail/objects/9089. Accessed 03/28/24.