Greceanu, Tudor, born 13-05-1917 in Boekarest, Romania to Carlat “Charles” Greceanu, jr
1875-1957 (81-82) and his Alexandrina “Alina” Greceanu
1876-1969 (92-93). Tudor had one brother and one sister: Radu Scarlat Greceanu
1915-2012 (97)
and Martha “Marta” Greceanu 1919.Tudor was married with Camelia “Toba” Greceanu 1929.
A descendant of some old Moldavian boys’ families and great-grandson of Ion Ghica. a prominent personality of the second half of the 19th century. Economist, mathematician, writer, educator, diplomat and politician. Tudor graduated from Military Aviation Officers’ School in 1939 and was promoted to second lieutenant aviator on 01-07-1939. fighter pilot licence, flight instructor, twin-engine pilot’s license, high aerobatics license, night flying license and zero visibility pilot’s license), including German, Italian and US pilot’s license and badges, had 6,000 hours of wartime flight time in 1,000 combat missions, both East and West .
During World War II, Lieutenant Tudor Greceanu scored 42 victories, shooting down 42 enemy aircraft, for which he was rewarded by becoming a Knight of the Order of “Mihai Viteazul” class III. Tudor Greceanu graduated the aviation school in 1939. He was one of the 29 pilots, engineers and cabin crew to make it to the end of their class. The aviator pursued his calling, at a time when becoming an aviator was very fashionable for the young people who afforded it. Romanian aviation by then had become a tradition.
Tudor Greceanu was awarded the “Aeronautical Virtue” Order of War with swords, the Golden Cross class with 1 bar (04-11-1941) “for the heroism displayed in the dogfight at Vigoda, when he shot down an enemy aircraft, and at Odis the second downed Soviet plane” and the Cavaler class with the first beam (06-10-1944). He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 24-01-1942.
Romanian aces awarded in August 1943 by “Mihai Viteazul” Order: Cantacuzino, Dicezare, Greceanu, Şerbănescu en Milu.
Having returned to Romania in 1945, Greceanu learned that his German-born fiancée had committed suicide, fearing deportation to the USSR. His brother Radu had also been imprisoned in the Soviet gulag. He was shortly arrested and sent to the Aiud prison, while his parents were placed under home arrest, where they struggled with disease and poverty.
Tudor was arrested by the communist regime in Romania and held for years in strict regime prisons such as the one in Aiud. After a spectacular escape from Aiud Penitentiary , he escaped the firing squad together with the aviator Gheorghe Spulbatu and the journalist Valeriu Şirianu, but both legs were amputated as a result of the torture in prison.
As a result of the excellent results, at the end of the war it was included in his file: “blocked from mobilization in the ranks of the 1st Fighter Flotilla as indispensable”. That is why, when released from prison in 1964, he retained his rank of captain, although the law stipulated that political detention inevitably entailed the loss of military rank and the acquisition of the military record of a simple soldier .
The former Romanian aviator said, among other things:
“There are things that people aren’t made for. God didn’t make people for anything. It’s that simple to die. Why compromise to live? (…) I lost the game. Because I lost the game don’t dictate… I fought for this country 1,000 miles in one direction and the other, on both the eastern and western fronts, and I believed in the virtues of the nation, and look what I chose.
Death and burial ground of Greceanu, Tudor.



Tudor Greceanu died on 29-12-1994, aged 77, in his modest studio in a workers’ district in Bucharest and is buried at Bucharest, Bellu Cemetery, Plot 8.
My friend Vlad Daniel from Pitesti (Argeș county) in Romania was so kind to sent me the grave photo’s with thanks.


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