Posted on 11/10/2010 1:28:21 PM PST by Ravnagora
Aleksandra's Note: Major Felman of the USAF is a very familiar name to many of you who visit this site. Many of you knew him personally, like I did, and counted him as a valued and dear friend. In honor of Veteran's Day and the 11th anniversary of Major Felman's passing just a couple of days after that holiday in 1999, I'm sharing one of the letters he wrote and sent out far and wide in the spring of 1996 regarding U.S. Policy in the Balkans, specifically the policy towards the Serbs. Although this letter was written 14 years ago, it continues to resonate today, especially for anyone who is aware of how misguided the foreign policy towards the Serbs has been for almost two decades now.
Richard Felman was a passionate man. He never said anything he didn't mean, and he never stood behind anything he didn't believe in. He believed in the Serbian freedom fighters, their leader General Draza Mihailovich, and the Serbian people from the day he hit Serbian soil back in 1944 until the day he died in 1999. And he made it known to anyone who would listen.
I wish more people in power in Washington had listened.
Sincerely,
Aleksandra Rebic November 2010
*****
World War II Rescued American Airman Defends Serbs
An Open Letter To Our Troops In The Former Yugoslavia From Over 500 MIAs Saved By The Serbian People During WWII
By: Richard L. Felman Major USAF(Ret)
President of The National Committee of American Airmen Rescued by General Mihailovich, Inc.
Tuscon, Arizona
Spring 1996
During World War II, we were on the Army Air Corps list as "Missing in Action" in the very same area you are now serving. If we may, we would like to relay to you a frank, soldier-to-soldier message about our personal experience while there - something which politicians who sent you there have not told you about and something which you have not read or seen in the Anti-Serb media.
In 1944, the members of our committee were flying bombing missions out of Italy over Southern Europe. During that time over 500 of us were shot down over enemy-occupied Yugoslavia and saved from certain death by the Serbian people. Ours was the greatest rescue of American lives from behind enemy lines in history but has been kept under wraps all these years because of pressure from foreign sources.
While we were there, those of us who were wounded were given whatever medical supplies they had even at the deprivation of their own troops. If there was one piece of bread in the house, or one egg, it went to the American airmen while the Serb went hungry. If there was one bed or one blanket, it went to us while the Serb slept on the bare ground. No risk of sacrifice was too great to insure our safety and well being. One experience which is forever seared in my memory is the time a village with 200 women and children was burned to the ground by the Germans because the Serbs would not tell them where they were hiding us. To this day, I can smell the terrible stench of their burning flesh. One does not forget such things.
The most incredible part of our rescue was that before each mission, our bomber crews were briefed by the highest levels of American intelligence that if shot down over Yugoslavia, we were to stay away from the Serbian people as they were collaborating with the Germans and "cutting off the ears of American airmen" before turning them over. Only after we were shot down did we find out the amazing thoroughness with which the truth about the Serbs was being distorted.
Further compounding this deception is the fact that while the Serbs were our allies in WWII, Croatians and Muslims (who we are favoring today) were allies of the Nazis, shooting at us and responsible for killing many of our fellow American fliers. In view of the lies we were told about the Serbs during World War II, we could not help but wonder if our foreign policy there today is the same anti-Serb bias we encountered 52 years ago. Could our career diplomats sacrifice former friends and reward former enemies in the name of political expediency???... Could it be because in the world community there are over one billion Muslims and only 9 million Serbian Orthodox Christians with the same proportionate power in the global economy??? Could it be because the Serbs have no oil wells and no unlimited oil money?
Could it be because the Croatians and Muslims outspend the Serbs 50 to one on lobbyists, media firms and campaign contributions??? ... Could this be why, "atrocities" are manufactured to make the Serbs look bad while gaining sympathy for their opponents???... Could this be why the Serbs are branded "aggressors" in land they have lived on for over 600 years???... Could our policy have something to do with the fact there are 540 members of Congress, none of whom are Orthodox Christians???... Could the State Department's bitter bias, against General Draza Mihailovich, the anti-Communist Guerrilla leader who saved us, be based on the fact he was a Serb???
Could these be the reasons the State Department has covered up the truth of our rescue all these years and opposed our petition to express gratitude for saving over 500 American lives (a petition which is supported by the 8 million veterans of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Air Force Association and which has been approved by the United States Senate.)???... Could it be these are the reasons the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has also denied our petition by saying to us here are "ethnic groups in Yugoslavia" who oppose it???...
Are we mad???... You can bet your next month's paycheck that we are mad! We did not leave our families, risk our lives and watch our buddies get their arms, legs and heads blown off so that "ethnic groups in Yugoslavia" could tell us what we could or could not do in our own country.
Now that the spring thaw has set in, temperatures and tempers will start to rise in the volatile area you now find yourselves. All we ask is that in your dealings with the local people you be made aware of the eyewitness experience of your fellow comrades-in-arms. By speaking out now we have nothing to gain except a burning moral passion to tell the truth, a sworn duty to protect our national honor, a patriotic desire to express heart felt gratitude to those on foreign soil who save American lives while they are fighting in defense of our glorious country.
Now that you have been sent to foreign soil and asked to risk your lives we feel you should know the truth and not be "suckered in" by the rhetoric of highly paid public relations firms, foreign lobbyists and self-serving politicians who know absolutely nothing of the region's history.
We might also add that had it not been for the Serbian people, Air Force General Donald J. Smith, our chairman and one our rescued airmen, would not have survived the war and been able to dedicate 40 years of honorable service to his country.
Had it not been for the Serbian people, technical Sgt. Curtis "Bud" Diles, another of our airmen, would not be alive today in Dayton, Ohio, enjoying retirement with his 4 children and 12 grandchildren... There are hundreds of us with stories just like those.
Some of the greatest testimony to the many sacrifices made on our behalf us the many thousands of American children who are alive today solely because the Serbian people saved over 500 of their grandfathers during World War II. Some of them could very well be serving with you today in Bosnia.
I was one of 3 rescued American airmen who returned last year to the former Yugoslavia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of victory in Europe with the people who saved us and to visit the cow pasture that served as a landing strip from which we were rescued. The most moving experience of our sentimental trip was being cheered by over 50,000 Serbs who gathered at a mountain top to welcome us and who kept chanting "USA! USA!"
As American military men, we have a proud tradition of "duty, honor and country" to uphold and a fierce sense of loyalty to those with whom we fought side by side in combat. We never forget their kindness nor do we return their battlefield sacrifices for us by bombing their women and children.
The Serbian people helped us when we were desperate and in trouble. Now that the situation is reversed we can do no less.
Please keep these untarnished truths in mind as you now serve our country and all it stands for, and may God bless you all as we pray for your safe return.
Major Richard L. Felman U.S.A.F. (Ret.)
Spring 1996
*****
Waco and Serbia
FU WJC
I never said that.
I was merely explaining that the destruciton of the train was incidental (not really “accidental’). The Serbs, like any other nation, have a right to shoot back.
Yes, I’m 100% sure they decided to attack that bridge right about that time. The USAF is fairly good about things like that.
Wether a train would come along at that exact moment is problematic, at best. Unless, of course Mussolini returned from the dead and caused the trains to run on schedulue during a war.
I will always believe Clinton pulled the wag the dog on this against ours and Europe best interest. I don’t blame the Serbs for doing whatever they could to shoot our planes down. I am glad the pilot was ok.
I don’t know, I think if you drop a bomb on a country that’s never attacked you and you don’t even present a declaration or war, maybe, just maybe, you are responsible for what happens when that bomb detonates and civilians are killed.
Clinton lied; Serb civilians died!
Apparently, they didn't and we had 9/11.
Wonder if we can learn from history, eh Obama?
Bombing Christians when they were fighting Islamic Terrorists in a struggle for their survival, got a defensive response.
America's first black president was ill advised and should not have used the Serbs as scapegoats, for his knob-job from Monica.
Wht we back the muslims whose sole purpose is to destroy western civilization and turn our back on Christians and actually attack them for these asswipes is beyond comprehension.
“Bombing Christians when they were fighting Islamic Terrorists in a struggle for their survival, got a defensive response.
America’s first black president was ill advised and should not have used the Serbs as scapegoats, for his knob-job from Monica”
The blame for all of this rests squarely on both political parties...ever since Nixon and his German Sec of State gave the Turkish Mohammedans the green light for the rape of Orthodox Cyprus, not just Clinton or the Democrats. Really it’s simple. Orthodox Christians/Eastern Catholics simply don’t count for anything to America, certainly not as Christians, despite decade upon decade of friendship and support. What counts is Saudi money and oil and the protestant/agnostic elites of the Right and the Left would sacrifice Eastern Christians in a heartbeat to make the Saudi/Mohammedan paymasters happy. We’ve watched this for a full 2 generations. I’ve never been really surprised at the Left, but I confess I used to be surprised at the Right.... I haven’t been since the Kosovo war. I know all about the idiotic arguments of Bush fils that he was out to create democracies in the Mohammedan world, or McCain’s excuses for taking money from Albanian terrorist/jihadi groups. History, God willing, will condemn them both, along with Clinton and Nixon as the killers of Christians and the destroyers of their communities. Maybe the Mohammedans will lionize them in their histories as great warriors of Islam. Eastern Christians won’t.
You’re right, Ravnagora!!!!
Besides that, because of “political correctness”, if one criticizes the muslims in any way, he/she is guilty of “hate speech”!
If the voters of a State vote to amend their State constitution to ban use of sharia law in any court decisions, then the State gets sued by the muslim “civil rights” organization CAiR. Then, despite the fact that CAiR is a know muslim Brotherhood front, with known connections to blood-soaked terrorists, the Federal judge sides with CAiR!!!!
The muslims are our deadly enemies, and the enemies of civilization. Fight them as ferociously as we did the Nazis and the Japanese imperialists!!!! And pay reparations to Serbia to enable her fix her infrastructure and economy. Arm her with advanced weapons (short of nuclear), and tell her to clean up her neighborhood!!!!
Amen
It’s unfortunate that those F117s were in the service of CLinton and ALbright and Blair—who relished the thought of bombing Churches during Easter and innocents.
Not it’s criminally immoral!
Agreed about Slick and the rats.
Then we got Bush and he signed over Kosovo to the the narco Muslims making sure the Saudis and Turks have another beachhead in Europe.
And now they have a fortress inside the gates.
Unfortunately, we don’t learn from our mistakes. Obama is out trying to make Peace at pretty much all costs with Muslims around the world.
Wanting Peace is a noble thing.
However, sometimes the “enemy” really doesn’t want Peace and are just looking for an opportunity to gain the advantage. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.
The trick is to know when you are being made the fool.
Serb ping!
Oh, it gets better than that. In a videotape, 2 of the 9/11 hijackers actually said that 9/11 was BECAUSE of Bosnia.
And one of the FT Dix 6 that tried to "kill as many US soldiers as possible" was an Albanian KLA sniper in Kosovo! (We were on their side)
When Muslims want to kill you, they will come up with excuses that make absolutely no sense to a normal human being!
Responsible, definitely.
Wow. Can’t win so why try?
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.
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