Alexandros Georgiadis, born in Othos, Karpathos, grandson of the village priest, known as Papa-Sakelis, and son of a teacher, became an immigrant in America where he studied electrical mechanical engineering at Carnegie in Pittsburgh. Naturalized and officially an American since 1940, he joined the American secret services during World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). After months of military training, he took action as an Information Officer (SI) in Evros, preparing the ground for acts of sabotage by the Allies against the Axis.
Intelligent and brave, he never hesitated, no matter how many times he had to go to extremes, to risk his life in order to fulfill his duty towards his two homelands, as he used to say, Greece and America. Sometimes dressed as a beggar on a donkey and sometimes in the uniform of the American army, he did not hesitate even as a dressed-up German officer to enter occupied Greece from Adrianoupolis and from there to Bulgaria, collecting valuable information on behalf of the Allies and delivering food aid, medicine, clothing, typewriter paper, and anything else that was useful for the Resistance in Evros. The locals adored him for his actions. They called him "Alekos the American". The ELAS fighters, on the other hand, never stopped suspecting him until the end. But one thing is certain. Without Georgiadis, the Allies would not have been able to cut off the supply bridges of the Axis with raw materials passing through Evros from Turkey to Berlin, and the war would have continued, unknown for how long.
Georgiadis retired with the rank of captain and was awarded the Bronze Star for his generosity and services by the commander of the OSS, General Donovan, and the Legion of Merit of the US Army. Numerous official American documents praise his honesty, ethics, courage, and generosity shown during the execution of his dangerous mission.
Returning to America, he continued to help the Greek people from there with the shipment of livestock, poultry, and working animals that the war had deprived Greece of.
His refusal to work for the CIA after the end of the war and his cooperation based on instructions coming from Cairo with EAM and ELAS brought him into the eye of the storm when McCarthy's star was rising in America, resulting in many psychological and other persecutions.
In Pittsburgh, where he continued to work after the war, he married Maria Gratsiani, a second-generation American of Italian immigrants, with whom he had two sons and a daughter who live in America.
He remained a passionate Dodecanesian and lover of his homeland, Karpathos, throughout his life. He was a member of AHEPA from its founding. He died of prostate cancer in Pittsburgh in 1976.