American Vets to Mark 60th Anniversary of Operation Hilliard

BETA | SEP 03 2004 | n/a

[Banat]

Next week, a delegation of American WWII veterans will be returning to the village of Pranyani, Serbia, where they will attend the unveiling of the monument erected in memory of "Operation Hilliard". During the summer and autumn of 1944, Serbian Royalist forces, under the command of Gen. Mihailovich, had saved more than 500 downed American pilots.

According to the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia & Montenegro, the delegation will arrive in Serbia on September 12 and will visit many other places where, 60 years ago, "they and their Serbian allies fought shoulder to shoulder against nazism and fascism". (BETA)

[Banat]

Gen. Dragolyub "Drazha" Mihailovich was a Serbian World War I war hero who led the first resistance movement in World War II occuppied Europe.
He was executed by the Communist Croat dictator of Yugoslavia, Tito in 1946.
He was awarded the highest possible honours by both the US and French governments. His execution was a sticking point in Franco-Yugoslav relations and the famed General de Gaulle refused to visit Yugoslavia on account of refusing to meet Mihailovich's murderer, Tito. He was also TIME Magazine's Man of the Year in 1942 and featured in an article which boasted of his Chetniks' success.

[gr8eman]

Thank you for helping us in the war, Serbia. As a token of our appreciation the bombing of Belgrade will start in 5 minutes!