An unknown «ark» of Asia Minor is kept in the Merchant Navy Academy of Oinousses, in the heart of the Aegean Sea.
It is the old-style Greek flag of cotton, known as the «flag of Ionia», measuring 2.2 by 3.8 metres. That is, a flag which from its dimensions seems to be used only as a city flag or a flag that can be hung on the masts of places such as camps.
It is the flag under which the students of the Merchant Marine Academy of Oinos, the next captains of the country's Merchant Navy, parade on national anniversaries. «With absolute respect for the history of the flag since it is a national heirloom of great value,» says Commander of the School Commander Dimitris Klumasis.
According to what is known, this flag was found in a warehouse of material from the Balkan wars in a military warehouse in Kilkis, carefully wrapped in a parcel with the note «TI (i.e. Cavalry Brigade) Smyrna 1922, City flag, Commander's Box».
It is believed to be the flag of a city in Asia Minor, perhaps the flag of the City of Smyrna which was detached from the mast during the retreat of the Catastrophe of 1922 and preserved by the then commander of the 31st Division of the XXI Cavalry Brigade based in Assyros. With the disbandment of the Brigade due to the redesign of the country's Armed Forces, the flag was stored in Kilkis until 2005. Then it was chosen to be donated to the municipality of Oinousses, which, it should be noted, is inhabited by a large number of Asia Minor refugees from 1922. The purpose was «to wave on the Aegean Sea».
It was then handed over to the Merchant Navy School where it is kept.
