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Helias Doundoulakis (born July 12, 1923) is a leading Greek American scientific innovator who patented the suspension system for the largest radio telescope in the world, and served in the United States Army as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services, inflicting major damage on the German Wehrmacht in Axis-occupied Greece during World War II.

War years

Doundoulakis was born in Canton, Ohio to Greek-immigrant parents. At the age of two, he and his family emigrated to Crete, Greece, where he grew up in Archanes, the site of the Minoan excavation at Knossos. While in his last year of high school, German paratroopers, the Fallschirmjäger, invaded Crete on May 20, 1941, after most of Greece had already fallen under the Axis powers. The Battle of Crete lasted for ten days, after which Helias and his brother George joined the Cretan resistance. An underground organization was formed by George Doundoulakis, who recruited ex-military and Cretan civilians from the Heraklion and Lasithi regions of Crete, at the request of Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent Christopher Montague Woodhouse.^[1]^[2] Working closely with "Monty" Woodhouse, Thomas James Dunbabin, and later Patrick Leigh Fermor, the underground organization supplied key information to the British SOE [1]. Timely information obtained by this organization and delivered to Dunbabin led to the sinking of a large German convoy destined to re-supply the Afrika Korps of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in 1942. After the war, George Doundoulakis was awarded the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom from Great Britain for his service, and Captain Thomas J. Dunbabin was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After a two-year involvement with the Cretan resistance, both Helias and George escaped to the south shore of Crete through the Psiloritis Mountains after their betrayal to the German Gestapo by a local Cretan, and were evacuated to Mersa Matruh, Egypt, on a British motor torpedo boat. This was accomplished at the request of SOE agent Patrick Leigh Fermor,^[3] who would later be known for his role in the kidnap of General Kreipe from Crete.

Helias Doundoulakis was moved to an SOE villa in Heliopolis, Cairo. The Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, quickly learned of his two year involvement with the Cretan resistance, and sent Captain James Kelly, or James Kellis,^[4] to the SOE's Heliopolis villa, to recruit both Helias and George Doundoulakis [2]. The brothers enlisted in the United States Army on September 16, 1943, and joined the newly-formed American spy service, the OSS. As a novice, Helias Doundoulakis was given the rank of corporal, and his brother George, staff sergeant. Helias Doundoulakis was schooled in the SI, or Secret Intelligence Branch led by Major John Vassos, and became skilled in the use of wireless techniques, parachute training, Morse code, commando/defense training and quick-kill techniques, locks/safe-cracking, escape techniques, and environment assimilation methods. He was sent back to Greece's second largest city, Salonica, or Thessaloniki, which was the main disembarkation point for German troop movements in the southeastern Mediterranean. Accompanying Doundoulakis was a Greek Naval Intelligence officer, Cosmas Yiapitzoglou. Originally planned to be dropped by parachute near Salonica, Doundoulakis was forced to go by the sea-route due to a large number of partisans of the Greek People's Liberation Army, or ELAS, around Salonica's mountainous Central Macedonia region, and the presence of a large number of German troops in the Chalkidiki Peninsula. With a small fishing boat equipped with tank engines for speed, the journey to Greece, which began in Alexandria, Egypt, passed through Cyprus, to Izmir, Turkey, along the Asia Minor coast by Samos, then across the Aegean Sea, landing on the Cassandreia Peninsula in Chalkidiki, Greece, and finally Salonica.

Post-war years

Upon completion of his duties in the U.S. Army, Helias Doundoulakis settled in Brooklyn, New York, receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the City College of New York, and a master’s degree in structural engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

He worked for over thirty-five years as a professional engineer at Grumman Aerospace Corporation and on many notable projects, including the MetLife Building in New York City, the Apollo Space Missions (such as the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM)), the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and the Space Shuttle. His crowning achievement is his patent for a radio telescope, used in the design for the largest of its kind at the NAIC Arecibo Observatory, in Arecibo, Puerto Rico (see U.S. Patent Office, Arecibo Observatory). He worked on this project with his brother, George Doundoulakis, and long-time friend and business partner William J. Casey^[5][3], who was appointed OSS chief for Europe by OSS Director, General William J. Donovan.

References

^ Beevor, A: Crete: The Battle and the Resistance, p. 278, Second Edition, Westview Press, 1994.
^ Kiriakopoulos, G: The Nazi Occupation of Crete 1941-1945, p. 190, Praeger Publishers, 1995.
^ Doundoulakis, H: I Was Trained to be a Spy, p. 35, Xlibris, 2008.
^ Smith, R: OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency, p. 258, The Lyons Press, 2005.
^ Persico, J: Casey: From the OSS to the CIA, pp. 101, 107-108, 166-67, 513, First Edition, Viking Press, 1990.

US patent 3273156, Helias Doundoulakis, "Radio Telescope having a scanning feed supported by a cable suspension over a stationary reflector", issued 1966-09-13

External links

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[1] Beevor, A: Crete: The Battle and the Resistance, p. 278, Second Edition, Westview Press, 1994.

[2] Kiriakopoulos, G: The Nazi Occupation of Crete 1941-1945, p. 190, Praeger Publishers, 1995.

[3] Doundoulakis, H: I Was Trained to be a Spy, p. 35, Xlibris, 2008.

[4] Smith, R: OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency, p. 258, The Lyons Press, 2005.

[5] Persico, J: Casey: From the OSS to the CIA, pp. 101, 107-108, 166-67, 513, First Edition, Viking Press, 1990.

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@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 Helias Doundoulakis was moved to an SOE villa in [[Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)|Heliopolis, Cairo]].  The [[Office of Strategic Services]], or OSS, quickly learned of his two year involvement with the Cretan resistance, and sent Captain James Kelly, or James Kellis,<ref>Smith, R: ''OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency'', p. 258, The Lyons Press, 2005.</ref> to the SOE's Heliopolis villa, to recruit both Helias and George Doundoulakis [http://books.google.com/books?id=HJEKAPFeJmQC&pg=PA190&dq=george+doundoulakis&hl=en&ei=IdF9TMu0EoTWngeZjcHBAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=george%20doundoulakis&f=false]. The brothers enlisted in the United States Army on September 16, 1943,  and joined the newly-formed American spy service, the OSS. As a novice, Helias Doundoulakis was given the rank of [[corporal]], and his brother George, [[staff sergeant]].  Helias Doundoulakis was schooled in the SI, or [[Secret Intelligence Branch]] led by Major [[John Vassos]], and became skilled in the use of wireless techniques, parachute training, [[Morse code]], [[commando]]/defense training and quick-kill techniques, locks/[[safe-cracking]], escape techniques, and environment assimilation methods.  He was sent back to Greece's second largest city, [[Salonica]], or [[Thessaloniki]], which was the main disembarkation point for German troop movements in the southeastern Mediterranean.  Accompanying Doundoulakis was a Greek Naval Intelligence officer, Cosmas Yiapitzoglou.  Originally planned to be dropped by parachute near Salonica, Doundoulakis was forced to go by the sea-route due to a large number of [[Greek Resistance|partisans]] of the [[Greek People's Liberation Army]], or ELAS,  around Salonica's mountainous [[Central Macedonia]] region, and the presence of a large number of German troops in the [[Chalkidiki]] Peninsula.  With a small fishing boat equipped with [[tank]] engines for speed, the journey to Greece, which began in [[Alexandria]], Egypt, passed through [[Cyprus]], to [[Izmir]], Turkey, along the [[Asia Minor]] coast by [[Samos]], then across the [[Aegean Sea]], landing on the [[Cassandreia]] Peninsula in [[Chalkidiki]], Greece, and finally [[Salonica]].
-During the last part of his journey, Doundoulakis travelled as an unsuspected passenger on a German boat which routinely transported provisions to Salonica, while he carried a wireless radio hidden within a can of [[olive oil]], an [[M1911]] .45 caliber pistol, and a .32 caliber pistol given to him in the Izmir OSS station.  There, he was also issued two [[cyanide]] capsules intended for his own death if captured by the Gestapo, which Doundoulakis hid in the lapel of his jacket.   In Cairo, he was armed with a nylon belt that contained a small pocket for the .32 caliber pistol and numerous pockets for 150 gold sovereigns, plus a pen-gun that could fire a .22 caliber bullet at close range.  In Salonica, Doundoulakis established a communication point for his wireless radio within an abandoned [[Jewish]] textile factory.  He posed as a merchant selling petrol and wood, while his accomplices would ensure the area was safe for transmitting messages, constantly watchful for either the German Gestapo or the Greek police of the collaborationist government, known as the [[Hellenic State (1941-1944)]].  Daily encrypted messages were sent to Cairo OSS Headquarters, disclosing the location of German troops as well as maritime activities of [[Axis powers]] ships in the port of Salonica.  Information was usually gathered from the civilian underground network established by Cosmas Yiapitzoglou, whose accomplices had infiltrated Gestapo Headquarters.  For nine months, Doundoulakis was the only American soldier in Salonica from April to December, 1944, where over 85,000 German troops were stationed,{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}, sending four hundred messages to Cairo OSS Headquarters, which resulted in the sinking of Axis powers ships and the disruption of railway lines into Salonica.  One particular message led to the bombing of Salonica's main railroad station, where 2,500 Germans were killed as they were preparing to leave Greece.<ref>Doundoulakis, H: ''I Was Trained to be a Spy'', p. 119, Xlibris, 2008.</ref>  This information was obtained from a German officer's Greek mistress, who unknowingly disclosed the departure time of the train to her cousin, a member in Yiapitzoglou's network of accomplices.  After this bombing, the Gestapo increased their radio transmissions surveillance in an attempt to find the clandestine group operating the wireless by using [[triangulation]] equipment.  The location of Doundoulakis' wireless was eventually identified and the area surrounded, but eluded capture after he had been warned by his accomplices, and escaped.
 ==Post-war years==