RECORD/ Old man prepares to cross the Atlantic alone, the nation is moved

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"The remains were found in Albania. I became a father after 85 years"

2026-08-24 21:07:04Histori SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Giorgos Vellios shows two old photographs. The one on the right is of his father and other soldiers, while the one on the left is of him, with his mother and siblings. “I am the son of a widow,” he is often heard saying.

Yiannis Papadopoulos – Kathimerini / He was named after the father he never knew. He had only seen him in a few black and white photographs and had heard the story of his death. Greek infantry reserve sergeant Georgios Velios suffered a wound to the abdomen during the Italian spring offensive on the eastern slopes of Mount Trebeshina in southern Albania in March 1941. He was rushed to a field hospital set up in the village of Kosina, where he died two days after the operation. He was initially buried there in an improvised grave along with other soldiers who had fallen on the Albanian front, in the premises of the local Orthodox church. His youngest son was born a few months later in Palaiochori, Halkidiki.

"Very sad. All the other kids at school had a father; I didn't," Giorgos Vellios, now 85, tells "Kathimerini" about what it was like to grow up with this void.

The trauma of that loss had crossed generations. “We grew up with this absence. It was an event that determined the fate of the family,” says Argyri Vellios, one of the fallen soldier’s five grandchildren. “My sister and I often heard our father express his grief for the grandfather we never knew. We heard him call himself ‘the son of a widow,’” she adds.

"The remains were found in Albania. I became a father after 85 years"
Giorgos Vellios, the son of Georgios Velios, waited 85 years for news of his father, who died of a stomach wound in March 1941, just days before the birth of his youngest son.

Challenge

In early 2018, nine years after Greece and Albania signed a maritime border agreement, a committee composed of representatives from both countries launched an effort to find the bodies of soldiers killed at Qafë e Këlcyrës in Albania during the Italo-Greek war. Meanwhile, efforts began in Greece to collect genetic material from relatives of Greek war victims to help DNA-identify their remains.

According to data from the team of experts responsible for the project at the Greek Ministry of Defense, of the 8,000 fallen soldiers – most of whom were hastily buried in unmarked or mass graves – bone samples have been taken for approximately 1,500 so far, while just over 2,000 relatives have provided blood samples.

However, for years, the initiative failed to yield any positive identifications. Exposed to the elements for decades, many of the bones were in fragments. From a scientific perspective, even isolating genetic material from certain samples proved to be a major challenge.

Years of waiting without seeing results brought a sense of futility to some families. “We had given up,” says Argyri Vellios. That was until July, when Georgios Velios’ remains became the first to be positively identified by experts. “It was like finding a person who had been missing for years. For my father, it was an excuse,” she says.

"I had been anxious about the news all these years, so it made me very happy," says her father.

"The remains were found in Albania. I became a father after 85 years"
Reservist infantry sergeant Georgios Velios, in an old photograph, was the first victim to be positively identified. His family was only informed of the development last month.

A second identification was confirmed a little later, that of reservist infantry corporal Dimitris Kollias, originally from Larymna in Phthiotis. His battalion attempted to capture “Hill 669” on 2 December 1940. He fell in battle and was buried in Albania by Italian forces. Items found during his exhumation in October 2020 included remains of his military uniform, a bayonet and a religious amulet.

"We feel better now. It was something the whole family had been waiting for," says Andreas Kollias, the grandson of the fallen soldier, who had given a blood sample for identification.

A memorial

Giorgos Sourlas, president of the Association of Families of the Fallen of the 1940-1941 War, describes the first two identifications as "historical."

“It was one of our main objectives. Others include recovering the remains, burying them properly and inaugurating a monument, which is currently under construction in Kalpaki, Ioannina,” he says.

Sourlas says that the Greek side is also waiting for Albanian authorities to approve a request for the expansion of the military cemetery in Këlcyrë, which has reached its full capacity, as well as another dedicated to the fallen of 1940-1941 in Bularat.

“It’s a moment that I – and the whole team – will remember for the rest of my life,” says Rear Admiral Panagiotis Papageorgiou, head of the Greek Ministry of Defense’s expert committee, commenting on the first successful results. “Decades have passed, so we are happy and relieved that all this work is yielding tangible results.”

Papageorgiou says that research is currently underway in the Përmet region of Albania, with the hope that there will be further positive developments. “It’s a game of probabilities,” he says. “We’re trying to tilt the odds in our favor.”

“Kemi pasur shumë zhgënjime – kaq shumë mostra u morën, kaq shumë orë pune pa asnjë rezultat – kështu që kur më në fund ia dolëm mbanë, ishte emocionuese”, – thotë oficeri i lartë Polyzois Makras, drejtor i Departamentit të Kërkimeve Mjekësore në Spitalin e Përgjithshëm të Forcave Ajrore Helene 251, ku përpunohen dhe analizohen mostrat e ADN-së.

“E kuptojmë plotësisht ankthin e të afërmve”, shton ai, duke shpjeguar se procesi do të zgjasë me vite, ndërsa hetimet në terren vazhdojnë dhe nevojiten më shumë mostra. “Këto përpjekje tregojnë se, pas kaq shumë vitesh, shteti i kujton të vdekurit e tij dhe po përpiqet t’u vërë një emër varreve ku ata pushojnë”, vëren ai.

Laboratori

Mostrat nga fronti shqiptar u përpunuan fillimisht nga Qendra për Biologji Molekulare e Spitalit të Përgjithshëm Ushtarak 401, një projekt që iu kalua Spitalit të Përgjithshëm të Forcave Ajrore Helene 251 rreth 6 vjet më parë. Sfida më e madhe për Departamentin e Kërkimeve Mjekësore ishte gjendja e mostrave. Udhëheqësi shkencor i ekipit, biologu molekular dhe kapiteni Stavros Kokotas, shpjegon se ekspozimi i zgjatur i kockave ndaj kushteve të ashpra mjedisore rezultoi në degradim dhe fragmentim të konsiderueshëm të ADN-së. Në laborator, kockat pastrohen përpara se mbetjet skeletore të reduktohen në pluhur, e më pas bëhet izolimi, analiza dhe amplifikimi i mostrës së ADN-së.

"The remains were found in Albania. I became a father after 85 years"
Në laboratorin e Departamentit të Kërkimeve Mjekësore në Spitalin e Përgjithshëm të Forcave Ajrore Helene 251, mbetjet skeletore të një ushtari që vdiq në frontin shqiptar në vitet 1940-1941 bluhen në pluhur në mënyrë që të nxirret materiali gjenetik.

Pas një sërë testesh, laboratori tani përdor një metodë të ndryshme, Sekuencimin e Gjeneratës së Ardhshme (NGS), e cila u lejon ekspertëve të analizojnë edhe ADN-në shumë të fragmentuar. Një studim i lidhur nga studiuesit e laboratorit u botua në një revistë shkencore ndërkombëtare në vitin 2025. Metoda gjithashtu bën të mundur hetimin e marrëdhënieve më të largëta familjare, duke u shtrirë deri te të afërmit e shkallës së pestë. Në rastin e atyre që ranë në vitet 1940-1941, ky zhvillim zgjeron mundësitë për identifikim, pasi shumica e të afërmve të ngushtë nuk janë më gjallë. Teknika e mëparshme u lejonte studiuesve të hetonin marrëdhëniet familjare vetëm deri në shkallën e dytë.

Duke kërkuar të dhëna

Ekipi në laborator ndoqi një qasje tjetër për të bërë gjetjet e para të suksesshme, duke kërkuar ndihmën e një historiani dhe një antropologu nga ekipi i ekspertëve të Ministrisë së Mbrojtjes. Pasi studiuan të dhënat e internimit që lidheshin me frontin shqiptar, këta ekspertë arritën të ngushtonin fushëveprimin e kërkimit duke treguar se cilat mostra kockash mund të krahasoheshin me cilin grup mostrash ADN-je të të afërmve. Sipas gjetjeve të ekspertëve, eshtrat e Velios u zhvarrosën nga italianët në vitin 1942 dhe u rivarrosën në Përmet, gjithashtu në jug të Shqipërisë. Kockat e tij u zhvarrosën që andej gjatë kërkimeve në mars 2024.

“It gave us a sense of honor and pride; it was a confirmation for the entire team both here and in Albania that our efforts were bearing fruit. There is such anticipation from relatives; some are dedicating their lives to waiting for an identification,” says Kokotas.

"We are very pleased that this technique works; getting to this point was difficult," adds squadron commander and biologist Thanasis Papatheodorou.

“More relatives need to come forward to donate blood. The more samples we have, the greater the chances of finding someone,” adds squadron commander and biologist Theofanis Barbounis, who also lost a relative, his grandfather’s brother, on the Albanian front. He believes he may be buried north of the field where the search is being conducted, and he also looks forward to the day when his great-uncle is found.

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