On the morning of 1 September, at home, in his own bed, surrounded by his loved ones, Menelaos Yangou — one of the last Cypriot veterans of the Second World War — departed this life. He was 96 years old; on 2 December he would have turned 97. This was reported by his son.

In the photograph on the left is the same man as a young soldier in uniform. In the early 1940s, from an island whose population at the time was less than half a million, around thirty thousand volunteers went to the front. They fought in Greece and on Crete, in North Africa, and in Italy. About six hundred never returned — their graves are scattered across fifty-six military cemeteries.

Menelaos Yangou returned. He lived a long life and passed away at home, among his own people.

May his memory be eternal.

@roscentrecy