Lazarus was born in Smyrna Asia Minor. He was the son of Konstantinos and Euterpe. He also had a not yet baptized baby sister.
In 1922, while Kemal’s Turks were burning Smyrna and slaughtering the Greek population there, Euterpe was holding 5 year old Lazarus by the hand, and his baby sister in her arms, and the three were rushing to make their way to one of the Greek rescue ships. At some point in time his mother let go of Lazarus’ hand and Lazarus remembers a Greek soldier snatching him and placing him in one of the ships which quickly hoisted its anchors and left for Greece. Lazarus’ mother and baby sister were never heard of again, having left their last breath in the Asia minor shores of Smyrna. The next thing Lazarus remembers was that he was in some warehouse in Piraeus, alone and with 40 degree fever, and an orphan.
A local Armenian family (also victimized from the Smyrna and Tarsous campaigns) took hold of him and raised him.
starving armenian children
At the age of 18 Lazarus married. The marriage did not go well and when the Greco – Italian war broke out (this was at that point in time when Europeans were busy slaughtering each other, instead of working together), Lazarus quickly joined the army and left for the Greek – Albanian border (residents that remember say that he preferred war 
than family life since his wife had a habit of beating him with pans and screaming at him that his salary couldn’t even afford to buy her cigarettes).
At some point in time, while the Greek army was pushing the Italians towards the Adriatic coast, word came that the Yugoslavian front had collapsed (the Croats and Serbs were busy killing each other instead of fighting the Wehrmacht) and the German mobilized units would be in Thessaloniki in 3 hours time. The Yugoslavian collapse effectively cut the Greek front in half (the operation was called by Hitler, the battle for Greece or operation Marita) since the deal was that Yugoslavia would defend the Vardarska (today FYROM) - Macedonian border and the Greeks would concentrate on Epirus (ie. Against the Italians) and Thrace (ie. Against the Bulgarians).
(It should be noted that both the Italian commander was a notable composer (while the Italians were preparing for the initial offensive he was indeed composing) while the German Field Marshal was a distant relation of the greatest pianist of all time, Franz Liszt.)
Lazarus was ordered, being the trumpeter, to trumpet “Theodora” which is the tune for unstructured retreat.
Now Lazarus’ lips, because of the terrible winter, were frozen so he couldn’t trumpet Yankee Doodle let along Theodora.
So Lazarus ran around his regiment screaming to his comrades “Theodora , Theodora, general retreat, general retreat”.
After this that and the other thing, Lazarus found himself hiding with a comrade of his in a train wagon somewhere in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki was now under Nazi occupation. Because of the shortness of space in the compartment, Lazarus was squatting and his comrade was sitting horsey back style on top of Lazarus’ neck to make sure that they both fit.
Lazarus felt the piss running down his neck and whispered to his comrade (“hey dude, stop pissing on me”).
His comrade never answered. His comrade was dead and what Lazarus was sensing were the natural body discharges when somebody dies. His comrade you see, had been mortally wounded and succumbed to his injuries.
The Germans then declared (by order of Hitler) that all Greek army personnel would be set free ( no
Lazarus got his divorce, returned to Athens, remarried and got a job in Karaiskakis stadium selling sandwiches to soccer fans.
Lazarus also became a devout Olympiacos fan.
Lazarus died from natural causes (or too much Ouzo) in 1994.
“Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.” Sir Winston Churchill
Lazarus got his divorce, returned to Athens, remarried and got a job in Karaiskakis stadium selling sandwiches to soccer fans.
Lazarus also became a devout Olympiacos fan.
Lazarus died from natural causes (or too much Ouzo) in 1994.
“Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.” Sir Winston Churchill
