George Doundoulakis

George James Doundoulakis (October 18, 1921 – March 17, 2007) was a Greek American physicist and soldier who worked under British Intelligence during World War II with SOE agent Patrick Leigh Fermor, and then served with the OSS in Thessaly, Greece.

He is known by his twenty-six US Patents in the fields of radar, electronics, and narrowband television.

Doundoulakis is best remembered for the idea of suspending the antenna feed of the Arecibo radio telescope by cables and towers, eventually patented by his brother Helias Doundoulakis.

A decorated veteran of World War II, Doundoulakis formed an underground resistance organization in Crete under the Special Operations Executive.

He escaped to Egypt and joined the U.S. Army and Office of Strategic Services – the OSS.

He was sent back to Greece, where he outfitted and unified a leftist rebel army, and was awarded the Legion of Merit from the United States Army and the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom from Great Britain.

George Doundoulakis was born in Detroit, Michigan to Greek-immigrant parents, Demetrios and Evanthia (née Psaroudakis) Doundoulakis.

When he was four-years-old, his family immigrated to Crete, Greece to look after their blind grandmother in the village of Archanes.

Nearby was the Minoan excavations at Knossos, where British archaeologist – later, SOE agent – John Pendlebury had been the curator.

By 1941, Greece had fallen to the Axis powers except Crete.

On May 20, 1941, German paratroopers invaded the island, known as the Battle of Crete.

During the Battle of Crete, Doundoulakis assisted the Greek and British army headquarters in Archanes, translating communiqués from other military posts.

After the British had been defeated, those soldiers who could not be evacuated either surrendered or went into hiding.

Montague Woodhouse was appointed SOE chief on Crete, replacing John Pendlebury who had been executed by the Germans during the battle.

Woodhouse approached Doundoulakis after spotting his savoir-faire as the Greek interpreter in Archanes.

He requested that Doundoulakis support the SOE in hiding and evacuating British soldiers who had been left behind on Crete, with full knowledge that his efforts were punishable by death.

Undaunted, Doundoulakis formed an underground organization under the command of the SOE's "Monty" Woodhouse.

This would become one of the first Cretan resistance groups.

Along with his brother Helias Doundoulakis and friends, they began scouring the island for recruits.

Gathering momentum, Doundoulakis rounded up ex-military personnel and civilians from Heraklion and Lasithi.

After Woodhouse left Crete, the SOE replaced him with "Tom" Dunbabin.

Risky sabotages under his watch were performed, such as the destruction of the Kastelli Airfield.

Along with friend Kimon Zografakis and two British commandos, Doundoulakis was able to set the airfield on fire after they placed explosives on seven German airplanes and hundreds of barrels of aviation fuel.

Informants also uncovered German naval intelligence through a paramour of a German officer.

After being relayed to Dunbabin, it resulted in the destruction of a German convoy destined to resupply Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps in September 1942.

After the war, Doundoulakis was awarded the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom from Great Britain for his services.

Thomas Dunbabin was awarded the Distinguished Service Order by the British military.

Dunbabin finally left, and the SOE followed him up with the legendary Patrick Leigh Fermor, known to the Cretans as "Mihalis".

George's intelligence circle grew exponentially.

George and Leigh Fermor, along with guerrilla leader Manolis Bandouvas, would take refuge within the mountainous SOE hideouts of Mount Ida.

After serving under the SOE for two years, Doundoulakis' ever-widening organization became apparent.

He was blackmailed by a local Cretan who demanded one million drachmas as hush money.

Otherwise, his organization and the SOE's Leigh Fermor would be let known to the Germans.

Refusing the blackmail, Doundoulakis sent high school friends Sifis Migadis and John Androulakis to dispose of the traitor.

However, they were too late in stopping the betrayal to the Gestapo.

Leigh Fermor urged Doundoulakis to take flight at once to Crete's southern shore, and await evacuation by the SOE.

They escaped through Mount Ida and the mountain ranges of Rethymno with others in his organization.

After hiding in caves for a month, they were rescued by a British torpedo boat south of Tymbaki.

Along with thirteen other resistance members, they headed to Mersa Matruh, Egypt.

As they were about to board, Doundoulakis reunited with Leigh Fermor and partisan leader Petrakogiorgis.