The first fallen Greek soldier of the Greco-Italian War

With these words, the former primary school teacher of Trikala, Giorgos Papavassiliou, describes the tragic death of the soldier hero who left behind three orphan children, Nikos, Giorgo,s and Alexandra. His last thought, his last phrase of what was most precious for him, according to the retired teacher, "my children are lost", with his hot blood running from his body swiftly.

And Mr. Papavassiliou continues, referring to the testimony of Christos Apostolos Giannios, who was serving in the same unit, and was behind Vasilis Tsiavaliaris: "I was a little further back, Vasilis was in front of me at the outpost. Our Commander was Colonel Davakis. At night, before 5am we heard artillery shells falling like rain on the outpost. Later the men of the outpost came back. There one of them came and said to me: "Your fellow villager is gone.They killed him with mortars, He was hit on the forehead, over the eye. We brought him back, we told the priest to read him. I was the first to cry for him. "

Vasilis Tsiavaliaris, son of Yannis and Agoro, the fourth of the five children of the family was born in 1912 in Pialeia, Trikala, a village at the root of Koziakas Mountain. Those who knew hom when he was alive, adds Mr. Papavassiliou - who comes from the same village - remember him as very laborious, an example of patience, morality and kindness. He was raised here, here in Pialeia, with little material goods, but with clear and traditional values, which are the essence of the Greek, love for justice, respect for the family, respect for the homeland, faith in Orthodoxy.

He served his regular military service in the 5th Infantry Regiment from September 1933 to November 1934, with a special zeal, and after his dismissal he returned to his village to create his own family. On July 22, 1940 the homeland again called her child to defend her, and Vasilis, father of three children, was assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment, and from there to the 51st Infantry Regiment, going, in early September 1940, to Eptahori, on the first line. The Pindos Detachment under commander Colonel Konstantinos Davakis, made up of men from Trikala and Karditsa, had taken a defensive position on the Greek-Albanian border.

Soldier Vassilis Tsiavaliaris, along with a few other patriots, undertook to defend the 21st Greek-Albanian Border outpost at Golios Hill near Pyrsogianni. The University of Athens 60 years later, in 2000, erected his statue in his hometown of Pialia of Trikala, and every year he is honored at a local national feast, the "Tsialavaria", which honors the first hero of the war of 1940-1941, and at the same time honors all those who fought in this epic struggle.