THE EARLY YEARS

Staff Sergeant Argery Harry Kavafes, son of Greek immigrants, was born in Long Island, New York, on November 18, 1921. His father, Alexandros Argyriou Kavafes, was born on August 20, 1885, in the Forty Churches (Kirk Kilisse) in Eastern Thrace. This city is in the European part of Turkey, near the border with Bulgaria, and today is known as Kirk Areli. The emergence of the Turkish Nationalism movement in 1908 and the policies of intimidation that began to be applied against Christians, forced many Greek people living in that area to immigrate. The then 25-year-old Alexander left for the United States, looking for a better future across the Atlantic. On May 20, 1910, he arrived in New York, where he settled permanently, working as a shoemaker. After years of hard work, he finally managed to open his own shoe store in Queens, New York. On December 19, 1920, he married his wife Chrysoula (Chressy Spyridon), her heritage also was from the Forty Churches (translated in Greek as Saranta Eklessies). It is worthy to note that after the population exchange in 1923, most of the city's inhabitants settled in Central Macedonia and Western Thrace, in Northern Greece, while many emigrated to the United States. In Thessaloniki, the refugees founded a settlement with the same name, and among them were many uprooted members of the Kavafes and Spyridon families. The couple during their married life had a total of four children, who in order of birth were Argery (1921), Spyros (1923), Despina (1926), and Virginia (1929). Argery Kavafes graduated in 1939, from Bryant High School, Long Island, and during his young age, he was very popular among his peers, due to his good character. One of his childhood friends, Ted Otis, who later married his sister Despina (Dessi), narrated about their childhood and adolescence years: 

"I first met Argery in 1933 71 years ago when he came to visit his aunt Melanthes who lived on the same block that my family lived on 41st street in sunny side. I was told to go and meet him and flay with him because he was a stranger in the neighborhood and did not know anyone. I went to Melanthes apartment and there he stood on the top of the stairs in his new suit, knickers, and tie. To tell you the truth I was not impressed. he was too well dressed for me. Sometime later that same year I met his brother Spiro who was closer to my age, and we became staunch friends throughout life. But Argery was always there in the background. Let's advance a few years and we were all living in the south Bronx in the same neighborhood. I was still pals with Spiro but Argery was always there. He had friends one of whom was Sammy, and don't remember the other one and they started to work out weightlifting. They were very much into it, and they even took pictures taken of themselves in exotic poses with their greased shiny bodies. I was a frequent visitor to their apartment on the top floor and there was always a little something for me to eat. One of Argery's idiosyncrasies was that he loves his milk. He would wake up early in the morning and get to the milk bottle and drink the cream from the top of the bottle. This infuriated his sisters."
 

ENTER USAAF

While the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, took place, Argery worked for the "KOUMAS BROTHERS FURRIERS". This business was owned by brothers Michael and Konstandinos Koumas, who were originally from Kastoria and were involved in the fur trade. On October 2, 1942, the young Greek American received a telegram ordering him to present himself at Fort Jay, New York, where the 1st Army Headquarters was located. In the information form, he wrote about his preference to serve in the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) as a pilot. However, according to the regulations in force in 1942, Argery could not enter the ranks of officers, because he had no college education. Therefore, could not become a pilot, which was a specialty assigned only to officers. Although he wanted to be a fighter pilot, he chose to continue his service as a Radio Operator Gunner, believing that even in that way he would have the opportunity to shoot down an enemy aircraft. At the end of April 1943, he graduated with the rank of Sergeant having successfully completed the appropriate courses. He was then transferred to Biggs Army Air Force Base in Texas, where he was attached to the 458th Squadron of the 330th Bombardment Group, joining the crew of Lieutenant John M Repp. The training flights started almost immediately and soon Kavafes and his colleagues would get a first taste of the dangers that a crew could face at any given time. On July 9, 1943, while performing a navigational training flight, with their B-24E 42-7124, they almost faced death. During the flight, the aircraft suffered a sudden failure, losing three engines, which stopped operating due to the malfunction of the fuel pumps. Using only the No.4 engine, Lieutenant Repp ordered the men to jump out with their parachutes near the town of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Kavafes was one of the last to leave and almost failed to do so. As he was trying to get out from the open window of the right waist gunner position, the B-24E began violently rocking left and right, causing the young airman to hit almost everywhere inside the fuselage. Before he could jump out, he felt as if an invisible hand suddenly grabbed him and threw him forcefully backward. Terrified, he got up again, trying to go to the window opposite him. Fortunately, this time, the violent shaking of the fuselage pushed him forward, causing his body to pass through the large window and free in the sky. As soon as he landed, he untied the parachute straps and lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to calm down and regain his breath. All 10 crew members managed to escape, while the aircraft crashed to the ground and exploded. 

In August 1943, having completed their operational training, they were transferred to the 98th Bombardment Group. At that time the 98th was operating on the North African front. Lieutenant John M Repp and his crew arrived at Lete airfield in Libya on September 12, 1943, located 10 km east of Benghazi. There they were attached to the 344th Bombardment Squadron and soon assigned them their personal aircraft. It was the B-24D with serial number 41-11803, which bore the letter ‘K’ for identification purposes. It was christened as ‘ROSIE WRECKED 'EM"’ and was formerly flown by Lieutenant Herbert Arens, carrying the letter 'E', on both tales. During their first days in the squadron, the new crews listened with awe to their veteran colleagues, recounting their experiences of the August 1, 1943, raid on oil refineries in Ploiesti, Romania. Although only a month and a half had passed since Operation Tidal Wave, its repercussions were still strong among the men who had taken part in the mission. They all said they were proud to have hit such a target, depriving Axis forces of valuable fuel. However, the American bombers paid a high price as only 21 of the 47 bombers involved, had been able to return safely. On September 18, 1943, the crew received their baptism of fire, participating in a bombing mission against the marshaling yards in Pescara, in central Italy. In this first mission, Argery manned the position of left waist gunner. According to the report submitted by Lieutenant Repp, the bombs hit a 100-foot-long train, while there was no anti-aircraft fire, nor did they meet with enemy pursuit. Two days later, on September 20, they flew a bombing mission against a railway bridge south of Grosseto in Italy, but no major casualties were reported. This time Argery manned the ball turret, with the twin 0.50-inch machine guns. No other combat sortie was flown until the end of the month as the 344th Bombardment Squadron was ordered to relocate to Benina airfield on the outskirts of Benghazi. Once the relocation was completed, the new missions assigned to the Group, during the first ten days of October, concerned exclusively targets in Greece.