[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 6 (Thursday, January 11, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E83-E84]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IN HONOR OF JACK KAKIS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 11, 2007

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Jack 
Kakis, a war hero who immigrated to the United States from his native 
Greece and created his American Dream.
  Jack was born in Thessalonica in Greece in 1920. When his country was 
occupied by Italian and German troops during World War II, he served 
with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the Central 
Intelligence Agency. Trained by British commandos in guerrilla 
operations, he was commissioned as an officer and led his men on 
horseback through Greece harassing the occupying armies. He received 
the Medal for Bravery Under Duress from his government, the National 
Medal of Greek Resistance, and was inducted into the Military Order of 
the World Wars.
  After the war, he studied agriculture in Greece, working in that 
field until he was recalled to active duty because of the Greek Civil 
War, during which he attained the rank of major. In 1951, following 
that conflict he and his wife, Mirka, immigrated to the United States.
  Jack arrived in this country with no English skills. He drove a 
flower delivery truck in New York City while attending night school. 
Eventually he earned a master's degree in horticulture from the 
University of Connecticut, also mastering English, French, Spanish, 
Portuguese, Italian, and German. He arrived in

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Monterey County, California to work for Basic American Foods Company, 
where his language skills took him all over the world. On leaving Basic 
he set up his own business, Monterey Agricultural Products, which 
specialized in garlic. Jack was given the title ``Garlic King'' by the 
agricultural industry because of his expertise with that crop, and he 
was the first president of the Order of the Stinking Rose, an 
association of garlic growers and processors.
  Jack continued to be active in agriculture even in retirement. He 
worked with Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, helping 
Central American Indians become more self-sufficient by growing and 
selling crops. One of his favorite charities was the American Farm 
School at the Thessalonica Agricultural and Industrial Institute in 
Greece, which has provided free education to Greek children since 1904, 
and where he was a trustee.
  Madam Speaker, I honor the life of Jack Kakis, a man who worked hard 
and diligently to make a place for himself and his family in his 
adopted country, but who never forgot his homeland and worked for the 
betterment of people in need all over the world.

                          ____________________