The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attends the Naming Ceremony of Cadet Dormitories at the Nursing Officers Academy

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The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attends the Naming Ceremony of Cadet Dormitories at the Nursing Officers Academy

February 19, 2026

The Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias, accompanied by the Chief/HNDGS Dimitrios Choupis, today, Thursday 19 February 2026, attended the Naming Ceremony of the cadet dormitories of the Nursing Officers Academy. They were named Rear Admiral (Med/Nurse) Glykeria Memekidou HN Wing, and Major General (Med/Nurse) Evangelia Andreadaki Wing as a tribute of honour to Rear Admiral (Med/Nurse) Glykeria MemekidouHN, and Major General (Med/Nurse) Evangelia Andreadaki, who lost their lives while performing their duty participating in a humanitarian mission in Libya.

The ceremony was also attended by the Chief/HAFGS Lieutenant General Dimosthenis Grigoriadis, the Commanding General of the Supreme Military Command of Army Support Lieutenant General Athanasios Saplaouras, as representative of the Chief/HAGS, the Hellenic Navy Inspector General Rear Admiral Dimitrios KapirisHN, as representative of the Chief/HNGS, the Civil Governor of Mount Athos and the former Minister of National Defence Alkiviadis Stefanis, the Nursing Officers Academy Commandant Brigadier General (Med/Nurse) Sofia Moschona, Directors of Military Hospitals, Officers and NCOs of the Armed Forces, as well as the relatives and families of Glykeria Memekidou and Evangelia Andreadaki, and Academy Cadets.

Mr Dendias, in the address he made during the ceremony, held at the Nursing Officers Academy, at "SAKETASA" Army Camp, in Vyronas, stated:

"Dear parents and relatives of the deceased,

Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff,

Officers, Male and female,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to be present here today, at the Nursing Officers Academy. At the Higher Military Education Institution, where Rear Admiral (Med/Nurse) Glykeria Memekidou HN and Major General (Med/Nurse) Evangelia Andreadaki received their academic and military training. The Academy where they took their oath, which they have upheld and honoured.

We all know there is nothing harder than praising the dead by "word".

The difficulty is demonstrated by one of history's greatest orators, Pericles, in the "Epitaph", in Thucydides.

We are attempting to stand here today, with humility, respect, responsibility, and dare I say love, facing the loss of two human lives. Those of Rear Admiral (Med/Nurse) Glykeria Memekidou HN and Major General (Med/Nurse) Evangelia Andreadaki, Glykeria and Evi, while performing their duty. We are making a gesture, insufficient as ever, yet we attempt to preserve their legacy in collective memory, and showcase their example before the younger generations studying here.

We are not simply naming two buildings. We praise the contribution, recognise the loss, and showcase the example.

It is humanitarian missions which demonstrate the broader role of the Armed Forces, particularly in the 21^stCentury.

As we all know, the Armed Forces exist to guarantee national independence and security for Greeks, of every Greek woman and man. To safeguard the capability of Greek citizens to, freely and sovereignly, decide on the future of their Country. Their role, however, is not that alone.

The Armed Forces, their nurses, also exist as a force of aid, a force of solidarity at the moment of human need. Both within and without our borders. Hellenism, throughout time, all throughout its presence on Earth, has claimed a presence outside its border, not aggressive or colonial, but cultural and humanitarian.

Our Country's force, contains what, today especially, the Anglo-Saxons call "Soft Power". Which power comes from the very service to the humanitarian duty.

The legacy we are safeguarding today is not a post-mortem obligation. Or rather, not solely a post-mortem obligation. It is a living memory.

It was expressed in an especially touching way by the parents who spoke before.

And I ought to say, as you know, that the Hellenic Parliament, in voting the "Roadmap of the Armed Forces into the New Era", a few days ago, retroactively legislated on the inclusion of the humanitarian missions of the Armed Forces into the definition of "bravery". And I dare say, it legislated belatedly. It should have happened years ago.

For, human bravery, an officer's bravery is not valued solely in armed conflict. It is valued by the basic choice, to be there, responsibly, and self-denyingly, where fellow human is in need.

I have often stated, that in Greek, truth is the denial of forgetfulness. Meaning, preservation of memory. And, preserving those whom we have lost in the conscience of the living, the collective consciousness of Greeks, is - allow me to say, Holy Fathers - the sole immortality open to man, in the confines of this world, at least.

The State, the Armed Forces, pay tribute, but the tribute does not exhaust itself in the instance of a ceremony.

It safeguards the content and meaning of loss within collective memory, it preserves the memory of those we lost, it transforms it into a living memory, it transforms it into an example of the debt of the living to fellow humans.

May the memory of those we lost be eternal".