George Musalas “Colvos” Colvocoresses (1816-1872) was born to a prominent family in Chios and was kidnapped at the age of six, along with his mother, by Turks during the 1822 Chios massacre. His father managed to ransom him from his captors and sent him to America, where he was received into the family of Navy Captain Alden Partridge, founder of Norwich University in Vermont. Colvocoresses successfully attended the University and entered the US Navy in 1831. He commanded the USS Saratoga during the American Civil War. He participated in the US Wilkes Expedition in the Pacific and wrote a book about his experience. Captain Charles Wilkes, head of the U.S. Exploring Expedition in the Pacific, named the water way west of Pugent Sound’s Vashon Island, the “Colvos Passage,” to honor expedition midshipman G. M. Colvocoresses. Wilkes preferred “Colvos” because he thought “Colvocoresses” was too long for a geographic term. Colvocoresses died under mysterious circumstances in Bridgeport, CT. His son, Rear Admiral George Partridge Colvocoresses, had a distinguished career in the Navy and was a commandant of midshipmen at the US Naval Academy in 1905. Several other of George M. Colvocoresses’ descendants have served in the US Armed Forces. The latest to be commissioned was his great-great-great granddaughter, Gretchen Herrboldt Hahn, who graduated from Norwich in 2005.

Greek Americans in the US Military

Then first Greek American to give his life for America in WWI was Christos N. Kalivas (1885-1918) (left), a Pentalofitis from Manchester, NH. He was killed in France on Oct. 8, 1918. On May 26, 1940, the city of Manchester dedicated Kalivas Park (right). (Photos courtesy of The Spirit of Kalivas Park, Community of Kalivas Park, 2005)

New Hampshire’s first Greek-American soldiers of World War I. Manchester, 1917. (Photo courtesy of The Spirit of Kalivas Park, Community of Kalivas Park, 2005)

George Dilboy was born Yorgos Delavoyas in Alatsata outside of Smyrna in 1896. George and his family came to Keene, NH, in 1908 and then moved to Somerville, MA. He returned to Greece to fight in the Balkan Wars in 1912-13 and joined the US Army to fight first in the Mexican Border War in 1916-17 and then in World War I in France. He was killed fighting under the American flag in July 1918. His heroism in WWI earned him the distinction of being the first Greek American to receive the US Medal of Honor. Part of the medal’s citation says: From a standing position on the railroad track, fully exposed to view, he opened fire at once, but failing to silence the gun, rushed forward with his bayonet fixed, through a wheat field toward the gun emplacement, falling within 25 yards of the gun with his right leg nearly severed above the knee and with several bullet holes in his body. With undaunted courage he continued to fire into the emplacement from a prone position, killing two of the enemy and dispersing the rest of the crew. Dilboy was originally buried in Alatsata, but his grave was desecrated during the Greek-Turkish hostilities in 1919-23 and President Harding ordered Dilboy’s remains buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in 1923.

Above: George Dilboy. Right: Dilboy’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery. Lower right: Somerville City Hall’s Dilboy statue. (Photos courtesy of City of Somerville and  the Smithsonian.)  

US Navy Master Gunner George Sirian (1818–1891) (Γεώργιος Σαρηγιάννης) (right, photo courtesy USN) was born in Psara and on June 21, 1824, as the Psara massacre was unfolding, his mother managed to get him on a row boat and pushed him into the open sea. She was killed immediately thereafter. Three years later he and three other friends of similar age from Psara, showed up on the USS Constitution, which was in Aegina at the time on patrol of the Aegean to protect commercial sea lanes. USN records (see below right) show Sirian served as a “Boy” sailor, “Powder Monkey” and then “Ordinary Seaman” under the tutelage of Lt. Robert Randolph. Originally he was kept on unofficial duty until he was old enough to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Randolph eventually assigned him to Master Gunner George Marshall, a Greek from Rhodes, who was an experienced gunner and the author of the first USN textbook on naval gunnery. The Marshalls took Sirian under their wing in Norfolk, VA, and Sirian later married Marshall’s daughter Eleanor (right) with whom he had seven children. In one of his early travels, Sirian went through New York, where prominent artist C.C. Ingham painted the Sirian portrait that’s housed today at the Sirian Exhibit section of the USS Constitution museum in Carlestown, MA (right). Sirian died and is buried in Portsmouth, VA, where he had settled. About 200 descendants of Sirian are estimated to live around Virginia, the far East and France. Unfortunately, Sirian’s descendants in Psara are almost all gone. But his family’s name is on the Holocaust Memorial Monument in Psara’s main square (right). The U.S. Navy bestows annually an award in Sirian’s name, which the Surface Navy Association describes in this way: “The George Sirian Meritorious Service Award established in 2003 - presented annually in August.   The award is named for George Sirian, who served in the Navy for nearly fifty years.  He rose through the ranks from ordinary seaman to master gunner and warrant officer.  Sirian's service included multiple tours on USS CONSTITUTION during her prime years as a ship of the line in the first half of the 19th century.  His technical expertise, dedication, and leadership remain an inspirational model for the Chief Petty officers of today's Navy.  The award consists of a replica of a 19th century naval cutlass, engraved with his or her name, plus a citation from the Chapter.  It is presented to an outstanding Surface Warfare Chief Petty Officer (E-7) on board USS CONSTITUTION during the ship's turnaround cruise in Boston Harbor each August.”

The city of Somerville honored Dilboy by dedicating a playing field in his name and the State of Massachusetts in 2006 built in the Somerville area the Dilboy Memorial Stadium, home to several sports teams of local universities and Boston’s professional women’s soccer team. Somerville’s VFW Post 529 is also named after Dilboy.(Photo courtesy of Dilboy Stadium.)

Left: The Colvos Passage in Pugent Sound (Map, H.M. Gousha Company, Chicago, IL, 1947) Center: G. M. Colvocoresses. (Photo, Norwich University Archives) Right: His tombstone in Litchfield, CT. (Photo, Heidi McColgan)

Eleanor Marshall Sirian. Photo courtesy James Edward Eller, Jr.

Sarigiannis family references on Psara’s Holocaust Memorial

Sirian family graves--George on the left and Eleanor.

(Photos, J. McDougall)

George Sirian’s prayer book. Courtesy USS Constitution Museum.

Part of the Sirian exhibit at the USS Constitution Museum.

Ingham painting, USS Constitution Museum

Above, the USS Constitution’s gunner deck, where Sirian worked.


Right, in 2007 Sirian was inducted to the U.S. Navy Hall of Fame.




On March 25, 2021, the 200th anniversary of the start of the Greek Revolution, one of Boston’s Greek American celebrations included a commemoration of the life of George Sirian held on the USS Constitution. See the whole event here:


https://manoparas.wixsite.com/whatilearned

Part of the Sirian exhibit at the USS Constitution Museum.

The USS Constitution’s Purser wrote the names of the boarding Psariot kids above. Upon exiting the ship the last entrant signed his name as “Katskooganis.” (J. McDougall photo).