Following my father’s footsteps

Chris Mingos' journey to Asia Minor and Lemnos

In recent years Neos Kosmos has published many stories telling of the closeness of the link between Australia and Greece through the Anzac experience.
These connections have told of the important role of Lemnos as the base for the whole Gallipoli campaign. They have written of the appreciation of the young Anzac soldiers and nurses for the support they received from their Greek hosts. And they told of the digger Peter Rados, an Anzac from Asia Minor, who returned to his homeland only to die with his fellow Anzacs on the Gallipoli peninsula. We are indebted to the historian Jim Claven for providing these insights.

One of the members of our local Greek community who is particularly proud of this re-telling of Anzac’s Hellenic connection is Chris Mingos.

Sitting on their back porch in Caulfield, Chris and his wife Irene often reflect on their story of migration and building a new life in Australia. For Chris, his mind returns to his birthplace of Lemnos and the stories of Asia Minor told by his mother and father.

“I was particularly impressed by the story about the Anzac from Asia Minor, Private Peter Rados,” Chris said.

“As a descendent of Asia Minor refugees, the story told by Mr Claven made me proud as a Hellene and an Australian. My father came from the village of Reis Dere – not very far from Peter Rados’ Artaky,” he added.

Chris’ father Yianni had left Reis Dere with his sisters and arrived on Lemnos in 1914, settling in the little village of Lera, not far from the capital of Myrina.

Like many Greeks from the old Ottoman Empire he dreamed of seeking a better life in far away America. Yet Yianni’s application to migrate to America was unsuccessful.

The war disrupted the lives of millions across the world, including those in Greece. Yianni left Lemnos and sought work in Thessaloniki.

Here Yianni witnessed the great build-up of soldiers from many nations who came to what was then referred to as the Salonika Front. Along with the soldiers of the Greek Army, thousands of Greeks joined the Allied forces as labourers in the Macedonian Labour Corps, building roads and the infrastructure needed to sustain the army of the Orient, as it was called. Many of these would die in the service, some buried in Thessaloniki’s Mikra Cemetery.

The great fire of 1917 at Thessaloniki brought an end to Yianni’s efforts to make a life on the Greek mainland. Out of work, he returned to the village of Lera on Lemnos.

It was here that Yianni married by proxy, a young girl from Kontias named Giorgia Salakianos. While she was only 17 years old, Yianni was by now over 40 years old. Yet despite this age difference Chris remembers that Giorgia’s parents assured their young daughter that the marriage would be a good one, as “he was a man from Asia Minor, who had the name of being a good husband and provider”.

Having failed to get to America and having tried his luck in Thessaloniki, Yianni took himself and his wife back to his village of Reis Dere in 1918, where they both started their family. Again bad luck would dog Yianni. As Chris remembers the stories of his parents:

“Like countless other Greeks in Asia Minor, my mother and father suffered during the catastrophe in 1922. During the war and its terrible aftermath, Yianni and Giorgia – now with child – and Yianni’s sisters were forced to flee their village, separated by the Turkish forces, and make their way to Greece and safety.”

“Giorgia was separated from my father and had to make her way to safety with her sister-in-law and her young son Nikolaos. In despair and fear of violations and death from their attackers, my mother – along with others – jumped into a well. Though she survived, her young son, aged less than one year, perished.
She carried the pain of this loss for the rest of her life.”

Chris’ parents were re-united on Chios – along with thousands of other refugees fleeing Asia Minor. Chris’ mother’s experiences on this journey across Asia Minor were so awful she could never speak of them. During Yianni’s journey from Reis Dere with 40 other villagers, Yianni survived many attempts to kill him and the others.

On Lemnos in 1922, Chris’ parents were joined by another 550 former residents of Reis Dere. Most of these made their home in Agios Demetrios. This was the re-named village of Lera, where Yianni had previously made his home on Lemnos.

But this time Yianni would settle in to the village of his in-laws – Kontias. At last, they could now enjoy life and would raise seven more children. During the 1950 and ’60s, Chris and his four brothers migrated to Australia, his parents following in 1961. Chris’ mother and father lived a long life – his father, born in 1872 died in Melbourne aged 106, while his mother, born in 1905, died in Melbourne aged 69.

As Chris says, “my parents are both buried in Melbourne General Cemetery, along with many other former Asia Minor refugees”.

In 2012, Chris and his wife Irene were able to briefly visit the village of his parents in Asia Minor – Reis Dere. They were accommodated by a former native of nearby Imbros, Mr Kosta, who acted as their guide in the village.

Walking around the old Greek area of the village, accompanied by some local Turkish residents, Chris was able to see the site of the former church of the village, the residence of the priest and even the house his parents most likely lived in when they were there in 1922. An old olive press bore the mark of its makers, from Smyrna to the south.

In March through May this year, Chris is being joined by historian Mr Jim Claven to re-visit the villages of his parents – both Reis Dere and Kontias. Chris was looking forward to Jim helping him to re-connect with the life of his father’s family in Asia Minor.

“I am looking forward to walking in the streets of Reis Dere again, its abandoned houses, its kafenio and its Christian cemetery,” he said.

And of course, he is re-discovering more of the Anzac trail on Lemnos – during this, the Centenary Year of Anzac. Chris is accompanying Mr Claven on a field research trip to Lemnos and other Anzac sites in Greece, including Thessaloniki and Macedonia.

“I feel fortunate to be able to travel with Mr Claven not only to Lemnos but also to Asia Minor, walking in the footsteps of both my parents and the Anzacs,” he said

Mr Claven also presented a major speech on Anzac’s Hellenic connection on Lemnos at Portianou Community Hall on 19 April and at the War Museum of Athens on Anzac Day, 25 April.

Both addresses were accompanied by a display of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s Photographic Exhibition – Lemnos and the Anzacs, 1915 – which was launched in Melbourne on 22nd March. The display in Lemnos is a special gift of the Lemnian Community of Victoria, the one in Athens by the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee.

Chris expressed his pride as someone of Greek and Lemnian heritage that has made his home in Australia to have the story of the Hellenic link to Anzac told through the work of Mr Claven, the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee, its supporters and Neos Kosmos.

“I would like to especially thank Jim Claven for all his efforts to advance the awareness of Lemnos and Greece’s link to Australia’s Anzac story. I think he has earned the title Philhellene. He has helped restore Lemnos to its rightful place in Australian history. Thank you Jim – or should I say, Dmitri!” Chris said.
In this year of the Centenary of Anzac, we need to rediscover these often forgotten stories joining Hellenes and Australians. They tell another rich story in the river of human experience that is migration.

The story of Yianni and Giorgia Mingos, their journey across borders, from Asia Minor to Greece and back, and to Australia, through war and suffering to a new and peaceful live in Australia is one that touches many in our community.

Chris Mingos was born in Kontias on Lemnos in 1942 and immigrated to Australia in 1960. Married to Irene Paltos from Kastellorizo, he is the proud father of three daughters – Giorgia, Natasha and Stephanie – and one grandchild, Ruby. He is a member of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee and the RSL Hellenic sub-Branch.

Chris is keen to contact former residents of Reis Dere. He can be contacted via email – chrismingos7@gmail.com