Sweetwater County, WY (4/13/19) – The Isis Theater in Green River helped raise funds to aid imperiled civilians in Greece in the early days of World War II.
Shown above, a 1940 movie poster recently donated to the Sweetwater County Historical Museum announces a special showing at the Isis of Second Chorus, starring Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard, to raise funds for Greek War Relief.
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On September 1, 1939, Hitler attacked Poland, setting off the Second World War. In June of 1940, his Axis ally, Benito Mussolini of Italy, declared war on the Allies and on October 28, 1940, invaded Greece with 140,000 troops. The Greek army resisted fiercely, however, and the campaign was a disaster for the Italians. Hitler soon felt obliged to bail Mussolini out with over half a million men. The Greek army was crushed, and three and a half years of Axis occupation began.
The occupation was a time of intense suffering for the Greek people. The occupiers systematically looted everything of value, including food, and widespread famine set in. (It is estimated that 300,000 perished from starvation and malnutrition.)
Greek-Americans responded swiftly, and a group of Greek bankers, businessmen, and other professionals, working in tandem with the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and the Greek Orthodox Church, formed the Greek War Relief Association, headquartered in New York. The GWRA’s mission was to “unite the Greek-American community behind the Greek war relief effort and to engage the American people in the same direction.”
Local chapters of the GWRA sprang up all over the country, and Sweetwater County was no exception. As reported in the Green River Star on December 6, 1940, “Organization of a local chapter of the Greek War Relief Association, Inc., was effected this week in Green River with collections totaling $500 received up to Thursday for the relief of civilians in the war-stricken country.”
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Steve Nitse was named the chapter’s chairman, Pete Argeres, the vice chairman, George Poulos, the secretary, Steve Vrettas, the treasurer, and “E. Nomis, Theros Thiou, and Gus Kocoralis” were designated as directors.
Honorary members were named and included “Mayor William Rogers, who would head the honorary committee as chairman, J.H. Jacobucci, E.A. Gaensslen, Adrian Reynolds, commander of Tom Whitmore Post No. 28 of the American Legion, Dr. A.T. Sudman, president of the Green River Community Club, and R.H. McIntosh, superintendent of schools.”
The new chapter reported that “All funds collected by the association will be spent in the United States for purchase of medical supplies, ambulances, food and clothing for relief of the civilian population in Greece. None of the money will go for war supplies, it was pointed out.”
Citizens, businesses, and organizations in Rock Springs joined in as well, and, within a week, over $1,100 (nearly $20,000 in 2019 currency) had been raised in Sweetwater County. By the spring of 1941, $2.75 million (about $50 million today) had been collected nationwide.
With their ultimate defeat at the hands of the Allies only six months away, Axis forces withdrew from Greece in October 1944.
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