In this photo, the mother of infantry soldier Kostas Nikolaou gives him an icon of St George to kiss, a day before the start of the Greco-Italian war, as he prepares to head off to the battle front. A Greek Mother blesses her soldier son and gives him an icon of Saint George as he sets off to defend GreeceGreece has lost a lot of blood for freedom since the ancient city-states, to the enslaved nation under the Ottomans and later, in independent modern Greece. In this photo, the mother of infantry soldier Kostas Nikolaou gives him an icon of St George to kiss, a day before the start of the Greco-Italian war, as he prepares to head off to the battle front. Don’t cry mother, you are Greece, mother. – Infantry soldier Kostas Nikolaou,35 years old, killed in battle,27 days after the war started against the Axis Powers.