My Road to Ithaca

Beverly Bunn, Michael Panayotopoulos

Description

An autobiography, this book is about the events and personalities of one hundred years of modern legends through the eyes of one who has lived it, stated in a uniquely opinionated manner. It includes wars and whores, the inside of business and politics on several continents, with unexpurgated revelations of individuals known to nearly everyone who lived during those times or learned about them since. Royalty, film figures, heads of state, corporate tycoons, and politicians parade through the pages as part of the author's daily life. Twentieth century history comes alive with experiences in Baltic wars, Adolf Hitler's inner circle, Greek government coups, CIA mercenaries in Africa, American heiresses, and the privileges of diplomatic office. Related by one born into riches and relegated to poverty, the narrative progresses via family scoundrels, political involvements, and escape and escapades in America. An unintendedly adventurous life from wealth and privilege to penniless, left with the asset of a brilliant mind to tell the story.

Sujets

• 20th Century
• Modern
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 05 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977259981
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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This book purposely retains the speech patterns, idioms, and expressions of the author, to be read and heard as the words were spoken.





My Road to Ithaca A Twentieth Century Small History All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 Michael Panayotopoulos as told to Beverly Bunn v3.0
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
True Adventure Publishing LLC
ISBN: 978-1-9772-5998-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022915677
Cover image: Shutterstock. © 2023 All rights reserved - used with permission. Cover design: My Vision Press © 2023 All rights reserved - used with permission.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Photo credits
1) Greek Machine Gun Team During the Greco-Turkish War: Creative Commons CC0 License, Milliyet {{PD-US}} https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hellenic Proussa1921: Agiasofia.com ; http://greekmilitary.net/konstantinoupoli/thisdayofyear/general_papoulas_proussa.jpg

2) Map of Greece : nationsonline.org Turkish Flagship : PUBLIC DOMAIN CC0 Wikipedia.org {{PD-Art}}

3) Greeks Escorting Bulgarian Prisoners in Trenches WWI 1918: Alamy.com https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-greek-soldiers-escorting-bulgarian-prisoners-in-1918-during-ww1-greece-170543259.html Venizelos Reviewing Troops at Serres 1918: PUBLIC DOMAIN via Wikimedia Commons Greece, Red Cross Nurses 1921: Library of Congress, No Known Restrictions . Greece, June 1918 https://www.loc.gov/item/2017674647/

4) Takis Panayotopoulos with Adolf Hitler: Private Photo Author Owned Berghof: creativecommons.org/via Wikimedia Commons, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1999-0412-502 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 Goering Hunt : PUBLIC DOMAIN via Alamy.com Hermann Goering: Franz Langhammer, PUBLIC DOMAIN via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hermann_G%C3%B6ring_by_Langhammer.jpg

5) Gordonstoun: LarchOak, PUBLIC DOMAIN CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Round_Square_and_Gordonstoun_House.jpg Urquhart Castle: PUBLIC DOMAIN CC0, George Hodan via PublicDomainPictures.net, https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=187721&picture=urquhart-castle Melina Mercouri: PUBLIC DOMAIN https://picryl.com/media/griekse-actrice-melina-mercouri-arriveert-op-schiphol-80b645

6) Paris Match N° 959 DU 26/08/1967 - La Terre a Tremble

7) Venizelos: PUBLIC DOMAIN CC0 via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venizelos_in_1919.jpg Metaxas: PUBLIC DOMAIN via Alamy Papadopoulos: CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H.M._King_Constantine_I_of_Greece.jpg King Constantine I: Megos Andreas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H.M._King_Constantine_I_of_Greece.jpg The Colonels: Alamy.com https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1962-the-3-strong-man-of-the-republic-of-greece

8) Greek Newspaper: No Known Restrictions Phryne before the Areopagus . (1861) By Jean-Léon Gérôme. PUBLIC DOMAIN via Wikimedia Commons Gloria Root: Playboy Magazine December 1969: Not available for third party licensing. Helmut Schmidt: Photograph Hans Schafgans, 1977 , CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Medal: Order of Merit: O uz Gemalmaz PUBLIC DOMAIN, via Wikimedia Commons Certificate: Order of Merit: Private Photo Author Owned

9) Penney Panayotopoulos Marriage Publicity: New York Times February 21, 1971; April 25, 1971, used under license Portraits by Bachrach Photography

10) Vouzas Hotel: https://vintage-files.blogspot.com (photos file - Billy Files) Castalian Fountain: PUBLIC DOMAIN Louis Dupré via Wikimedia Commons Archbishop Iakovos : PUBLIC DOMAIN White House Photo, via Wikimedia Commons Queen Frederica, Jackie Kennedy: Helmer Reenberg YouTube https://www.youtube.com/helmerreenberg
Table of Contents
1. Proussa, Asia Minor
2. Statesman vs. Monarch
3. The Greek Swimmer Founds a Fortune
4. The Split, a Disunited Greece
5. Serres: Ninety Men Equal One Division
6. Thessalonica Hospital
7. Reporting for Duty and a Duel
8. A Dozen White Sheets
9. End and Aftermath
10. Greece’s Due, Lost
11. The Greek and Goering
12. Family and Business
13. Rescue from Exile
14. Prelude to War
15. Wartime Athens
16. Escape to Scotland
17. The Keep at Urquhart Castle, and Gordonstoun
18. Return to Athens
19. With the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
20. Becoming a Mining Engineer
21. Greek Army Boots and the CIA
22. The Family Enterprises
23. A Congo Mercenary
24. The Colonels
25. Moscow: Blue Jeans in the Diplomatic Bag
26. Bonn, un post du combat
27. Six Months Ago, She Was a Man
28. Phryne and the Playmate of the Month
29. Emery, Whips and Education
30. Commercial Women
31. The Spy
32. Living the Good Life
33. The Highest Decoration
34. Archbishop of the Americas
35. Apollo, the Jewish Baby
36. The Cultured and the Culture Minister
37. The Sabra, and Sophocles
38. Kissinger’s Doctrine: Greece is Dispensable
39. Meeting Miss Kim
40. Job Insecurity
41. Becoming a Fugitive



ITHACA HAS GIVEN YOU THE BEAUTIFUL VOYAGE.
WITHOUT HER YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE SET OUT ON THE ROAD.
SHE HAS NOTHING MORE TO GIVE YOU.

KONSTANTINE KAVAFY 1911
Preface
I am Greek, after all.
The Fates keep me from making plans and the Muses affect my life.
There are only three things in my life I have never tried, I have never injected myself with heroin nor taken crack or the like, and three, I have never been the passive part of a homosexual pairing. I have also never committed treason, although some Greeks might give you an argument on that.
Like my uncle Socrates, I know one thing: I know nothing. I cannot prove he was my uncle, but nobody can disprove it either.
I haven’t come up with an original idea. I haven’t written anything that hasn’t been thought of before. I am like a parrot, I can repeat what I have read or observed.
Through the eyes and the ears of my father I have experienced years more than my own life, and I know every detail. Through my father, who served as Military Attaché in the Greek Embassy in Berlin from 1936 through 1940, I have another viewpoint of history. My father was a personal friend of Hermann Goering since 1921 and had first met Adolf Hitler when he was a nobody at the Bierhalle in Munich.
While I am a great-great grandson of the Duke of Argyll, and descended from the Earl of Inverness, and my mother is a Dame of the British Empire, I am not a gentleman.
Though I am rude, I have not said anything that I know to be untrue.
I have related events as my memory serves me.
This is my journey on the road to Ithaca.

Michael Panayotopoulos 2022
ITHACA
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithaca means.

Konstantine P. Kavafy (1911)
CHAPTER 1
Proussa, Asia Minor
THE SHELLS WHINE and burst furiously around and amid the eleven remaining men under the command of Lieutenant Takis Panayotopoulos, most of them wounded. Still, they grimly determine to fight till the last drop of their blood, till the last breath escapes their shattered lungs hurting awfully from the blasts of the infernal explosions caused by the incessant Turkish artillery barrage. Panayotopoulos’ machine guns, legendary French St. Etienne’s, grow red hot from continuous firing and the men urinate upon them in an effort to cool them somehow and prevent them from malfunctioning. The Tenth Greek Infantry Division is decimated by the waves of Turkish attacks. But the Duz-dag Hills have to be defended or else Proussa, only twelve miles to the west, will fall.
A terrible deafening explosion hurls Panayotopoulos yards away from his smashed machine gun, his right index finger still pressed on the trigger…. his right arm separated into a mess of torn flesh, bones, and blood. The eleven men who only hours ago were 130 are now three, and no machine gun fires anymore.

Has it been minutes, hours, days, or an eternity since that hell of an inferno when Takis Panayotopoulos feels strong enough to open his burning eyes? He