Miltiadis Iatridis was a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 naval

Hellenic Navy

The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...

 officer active during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

He was born in the village Sofiko in the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

. He entered the Hellenic Naval Academy

Hellenic Naval Academy

The Hellenic Naval Academy is a military academy with university status and has the responsibility to educate and suitably train competent Naval Officers for the Hellenic Navy. Its full name is Hellenic Naval Cadets Academy and was founded in 1845. The academy is one of the oldest educational...

 in 1921 and graduated in 1926. By the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War

Greco-Italian War

The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...

 in 1940 he was captain of the submarine Papanikolis with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Carrying out six wartime patrols in the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

, the Papanikolis sunk two Italian cargo vessels, earning Iatridis a promotion to Commander and the Gold Cross of Valour

Cross of Valour (Greece)

The Cross of Valour is the second highest military decoration of the Greek state, awarded for acts of bravery or distinguished leadership on the field of battle...

, Greece's highest award for gallantry. Following the German invasion

Battle of Greece

The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...

, Iatridis led the Papanikolis to Allied-controlled Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. For the remainder of the war, he was assigned mostly shore duties, largely because of his often strained relationship with superiors.

Following the liberation of Greece in October 1944, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Aegean fleet (1944–1945), subsequently commander of the North Aegean squadron (1947) and of the Naval Academy (1948). In 1950-1951, he headed the mission that was sent to Italy to receive the former Italian cruiser Eugenio di Savoia

Italian cruiser Eugenio di Savoia

Eugenio di Savoia was a Condottieri class light cruiser, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She survived the war but was given as a war reparation to the Hellenic Navy in 1947...

, that was to be handed over to Greece as war reparations

War reparations

War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...

 and was commissioned into the Greek Navy as Elli II

Greek cruiser Elli II

Elli was a 10,000 ton Greek light cruiser named for a naval battle of the First Balkan War in which Greece was victorious. She was the second ship of the Royal Hellenic Navy to bear this name...

. He resigned from the service on 29 December 1952 with the rank of Captain.

Iatridis was killed at Agioi Theodoroi

Agioi Theodoroi

Agioi Theodoroi is a town and a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Loutraki-Agioi Theodoroi, of which it is a municipal unit. It is a suburb of Athens, located around 12 km east of Corinth and about 63 km W...

 in a car accident in 1960. The city of Pyrgos

Pyrgos, Elis

Pyrgos is the capital of the Elis peripheral unit in Greece. It is named after a local tower. The city is located in the western part of the Peloponnese, in the middle of a plain near the Ionian Sea. It is 96 km away from Patras via Greek National Road 9, 320 km from Athens, and...

, the birthplace of his father, named a square after Cpt. Iatridis, where his bust was later erected.