Stefanos Sarafis Stefanos Sarafis ( , 1890 - 31 May 1957 ) was an officer of the Hellenic Army who played an important role during the Greek Resistance . Early life and career . Sarafis was born at Trikala in 1890 , and studied law in the University of Athens . During the Balkan Wars , he enlisted in the Greek Army as a sergeant , and was promoted to lieutenant in 1913 . He became a Venizelist , and played an active role in the various military conspiracies that were formed during the troubled 1920s . He participated in the two failed Venizelist coup attempts of 1933 and 1935 . The latter was led by Nikolaos Plastiras and intended to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Panagis Tsaldaris . The failure of the coup resulted in the execution of its leader for treason and dishonorable discharges for several of the participants . Sarafis himself was condemned to life imprisonment , but was pardoned by the government . In internal exile . Sarafis was exiled to the island of Milos which was populated but had no connection to military activities . He was thus effectively isolated from possible contacts with active Army members . In 1938 , Sarafis was introduced to Marion Pascoe , an English student of the University of Oxford who visited the island to pursue her studies of archaeology . However her limited knowledge of the Greek language prevented her from effectively communicating with the locals . Sarafis was reportedly the only person on the island with working knowledge of the English language and volunteered to help her in communicating . Their private conversations over political beliefs and the History of Greece resulted in her lifelong interest in Greek matters . Marion later claimed to have fallen in love with Sarafis at this point . Second World War . Marion left Greece during the Greco - Italian War . Sarafis resurfaced as a leading figure of the Greek Resistance movement . Initially in contact with the republican EDES and EKKA movements , in March 1943 he was arrested by guerillas of the communist EAM / Greek People ' s Liberation Army ( ELAS ) . Despite his background , a month later Sarafis joined ELAS . His motives for this have been hotly contested , but he seems to have been impressed by ELAS ' strength and at least partly sympathised with its political aims . In May , he was appointed as head of its general staff . From this position he played a crucial role during the Dekemvriana . After the military and political defeat of EAM in the Dekemvriana , he was captured and exiled to Serifos where Marion re - established correspondence with him in 1946 . She had joined the League for Democracy which campaigned for the release of political prisoners . Post - war activities . Sarafis was eventually released in 1948 and married Marion in 1952 . He joined the United Democratic Left at about this time . In the Greek legislative election , 1956 , the United Democratic Left entered a coalition with the Republican Union , the Liberal Party ( EP ) , the Rally of the Farmers and the Workers , National Progressive Union of the Centre and the Democratic Socialist Party . The coalition came second and managed to elect 132 MPs , while he was among them . He was a pedestrian casualty in a car accident on 31 May 1957 in Alimos , a suburb of Athens . He and his wife Marion were taking a walk when an automobile driven by a non - commissioned officer of the United States Air Force collided with them . Sarafis was killed and his wife injured . George V . Allen , the then United States Ambassador to Greece , ordered the airman to be handed to the Greek authorities for trial . The airman admitted to have been driving under the influence and having violated the speed limit . He was charged with manslaughter . However fellow politicians of the United Democratic Left strongly suspected the incident to be a " premedidated murder " and reported their suspicions to the press .