On the 5th November 2009, Lieutenant Charalambous was killed by a grenade explosion. But his death was heroic. As was told to his friends and family, he fell on the grenade that “armed” itself because he wanted to give three other of his comrades time to run and save themselves.
Here’s an extract from an article written about him:
The countdown At ten minutes to eleven in the morning, a muffled sound shook the area around the outpost on the front line of Nicosia near Paphos Gate, in the centre of Old Nicosia.
Lieutenant Charalambos Charalambous fell dead. That morning, the Lieutenant and the other three soldiers started counting the war material in the outpost.
During this, the lieutenant caught a grenade. A strange sound, a warning sound, was heard. The countdown began. With a “warning click”, she armed herself. Then the Lieutenant “hugged” her and in a sharp voice ordered the two soldiers and the cadet in the room to leave.
A deep wound to the heart Within 5 seconds, the remaining three barely made it out. After the explosion, thick smoke and debris covered the area. Cadet Andreas Christodoulou returned and saw his lieutenant dead. The explosion killed him with a deep wound to the heart.
Ok noted, thanks.
EDIT: Why am I getting downvoted for acknowledging the post?
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΣΤΙΣ ΜΝΗΜΕΣ ΜΑΣ
Αθάνατος. «Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία». Κάθε σπιθαμή αυτού του μαρτυρικού και ακόμα σκλαβωμένου νησιού μας ποτισμένη με αίμα.
Did anyone here try to pull the pin off a grenade before? Like while serving and trained how to throw grenades? It actually requires quite a bit of strength to pull it out. The rambo movies pulling it out using your teeth could break your teeth and you need two hands to do it. It’s practically nearly impossible for a grenade to “arm itself” hence why they are “safe” enough to strap them onto yourself during battle.
Something else happened there, the pin was either missing from the grenade all together or someone had been messing with it previously but imo the investigation into this was weak and the conclusion is wrong, completely wrong and the family deserves a real explanation.
Αιώνια σας η μνήμη κ. Υπολοχαγέ σας χαιρετώ και επαινώ την ηρωική σας απόφαση να βάλετε την ζωή των στρατιωτών σας πάνω απ’την δική σας.
This guy gave me somewhere around 10-15 says of “prison”/”filaki” when I was stationed in Klirou. RIP sir.
6 comments
This is not a political statement
On the 5th November 2009, Lieutenant Charalambous was killed by a grenade explosion. But his death was heroic. As was told to his friends and family, he fell on the grenade that “armed” itself because he wanted to give three other of his comrades time to run and save themselves.
Here’s an extract from an article written about him:
The countdown At ten minutes to eleven in the morning, a muffled sound shook the area around the outpost on the front line of Nicosia near Paphos Gate, in the centre of Old Nicosia.
Lieutenant Charalambos Charalambous fell dead. That morning, the Lieutenant and the other three soldiers started counting the war material in the outpost.
During this, the lieutenant caught a grenade. A strange sound, a warning sound, was heard. The countdown began. With a “warning click”, she armed herself. Then the Lieutenant “hugged” her and in a sharp voice ordered the two soldiers and the cadet in the room to leave.
A deep wound to the heart Within 5 seconds, the remaining three barely made it out. After the explosion, thick smoke and debris covered the area. Cadet Andreas Christodoulou returned and saw his lieutenant dead. The explosion killed him with a deep wound to the heart.
Ok noted, thanks.
EDIT: Why am I getting downvoted for acknowledging the post?
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΣΤΙΣ ΜΝΗΜΕΣ ΜΑΣ
Αθάνατος. «Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία». Κάθε σπιθαμή αυτού του μαρτυρικού και ακόμα σκλαβωμένου νησιού μας ποτισμένη με αίμα.
Did anyone here try to pull the pin off a grenade before? Like while serving and trained how to throw grenades? It actually requires quite a bit of strength to pull it out. The rambo movies pulling it out using your teeth could break your teeth and you need two hands to do it. It’s practically nearly impossible for a grenade to “arm itself” hence why they are “safe” enough to strap them onto yourself during battle.
Something else happened there, the pin was either missing from the grenade all together or someone had been messing with it previously but imo the investigation into this was weak and the conclusion is wrong, completely wrong and the family deserves a real explanation.
Αιώνια σας η μνήμη κ. Υπολοχαγέ σας χαιρετώ και επαινώ την ηρωική σας απόφαση να βάλετε την ζωή των στρατιωτών σας πάνω απ’την δική σας.
This guy gave me somewhere around 10-15 says of “prison”/”filaki” when I was stationed in Klirou. RIP sir.