The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1914-04-17
Proprietor of Marietta Restaurant
Was In Many Battles With
Bulgarians.

where l have been for the last eigh-
teen months many Of my friends
ask me to tell them some of my eX-
periences of the battlefield in the
last war on the Balkan peninsula be-
tween Servians, Greeks, Bulgarians
and Montenegrins against their com
mon enemy the Turks, and if pos
sible explain the Balkan situation
and the reasons for the war
The Balkan peninsula has been
the cause of many disturbances for
the last five centuries, particularly
since the year 1853 A. D. when
Turks from Asia invaded Europe and
captured Constantinople and became
the rulers of all the northern part
of Europe until the year 1921 when
first the Greeks revolted against the
Mohamedan rule and was followed
by the revolution of the other Slav-
ish races.
1t was the year 1921, seven years
after the revolution broke out, that
the powers of Europe compelled
Turkey to give part of Greece its
freedom, thus forming the small
kingdom of Greece, leaving its best
states, such as Epirous, Macedonia,
Thrace and the island near the coast
of Asia Minor under barbaric rules,
The protecting powers of Europe put
King George the first as a ruler over
the small kingdom. He was assassin
ated in Salonica year ago and was
succeeded by his son, Constantine,
the most popular and democratic
king in the world, in fact, the only
ruler since the days of Napoleon Bon
auarte, who led his entire race in a
last war against the enemy, the only
ruler who shared all the hardships
and danger of the war with his own
soldiers for the honor of the nation.
The first outbreak between Greece
and Turkey since 1928 came when
the Island of Crete revoted against
Turkish rules, thus ending the war
of 1897 when Greece was defeated
and badly Inundated.
A new crisis came in 1909 when
the Turkish government, backed by
certain powers, gave Greece the
choice of war, or renouncing it's pur-
pose to claim the annexation of the
contested Island. Greece was not
prepared for war then, and although
public sentiment was against the
government for not declaring war
and getting revenge for the defeat Of
1897, the wise ruler had given Tur-
key to understand that under no cir
cucstances would he consent to the
act of annexation, for which the
Greek nation was clamoring.
The peril was averted, by the re-
fusal of the government to yield to
the popular pressure, thus saving
Greece from a fresh humiliation from
the Asiatic border.
in the summer of 1912 to expeu the
Turks from Europe, thus giving free
dom to fifteen million christians who
for four hundred years had been
ruled by the barbarians, came like a
bomb explosion to the Turkish gov
eminent and created a big excite
Enrpnaan pourorc
who were interested in keeping Tur-
key in Europe.
1t was most surprising that the
call of Hellas, when hostilities began
in the fall of 1912, found every Greek
in every part of the world ready to
risk anything and get revenge for
the defeat of 1897, and free their
brothers from the mohameden rule.
l doubt whether in the history of
the world can be found that such an
appeal was ever answered by any
other race under such circumstances
Over sixty thousand young men left
the United States, the liberty loving
country, and enlisted in the Grecians
army to fight for thee ountry's honor
and free their brothers
The war was declared on the Sth
day of October 1912 and it was ten
days after that | left Marietta for my
motherland. 1t was the middle of
November when l enlisted in the
army. BY that time the Turks were
defeated by the allies and all the
-territoy from the Adriatic sea up to
few miles outside of Constantine
pie was in the hands of the allies.
Greeks and Turks during that time
were engaged in fifteen battles and
two navy conflicts and in all of them
Turkey got the worst of it. Seventy
nine thousand Turks were captured
as prisoners of the war by the Greeks
and an enormous amount Of guns and