American Serb History 101

 Over 500 U.S. Airmen were saved by the SERBS!

 "V" for VICTORY!  

V ... _

 "Zora puca, bice dana!"

Click on lower right hand corner to enlarge letter above.

The book FREE YUGOSLAVIA CALLING by Dr. Svetislav-Sveta Petrovitch, was written in 1941.  Fiorello Henry LaGuardia, the 99th Mayor of New York City, and widely regarded as one of the BEST mayors the city ever had, wrote the forward, with the words, "Zora puca, bit ce' dana," meaning "the dawn in breaking, the day will come."

"Yes," he said, "the Day will come to the Yugoslavs--- as well as to the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, and to all others suffering under the knout of the Nazi jailers-- when peace and freedom shall reign over their land which I know so well.

"The Day of Victory will come to these people whose will to live as free men proved to be stronger than the iron heels of the dictators.

"This book, the first one to come out under the 'V-for-Victory" symbol, confirms my faith in the survival of these brave people.  The daring exploits of the Yugoslav Chetniks against the Nazi invaders, so vividly described by Dr. Petrovitch, and the stiff resistance by the undismayed men and women in other countries, must evoke our admiration and confidence in liberty-loving mankind.

"Every liberty loving person knows that we must not abandon these struggling people who carry on the fight against tyranny so that democracy may prevail in all lands, including the United States.  We must keep the fires of hope burning in the hearts of millions of suffering people throughout the world, the fires which a monster without a heart tries but fails to extinguish.

 "I call upon all Americans to unite and join humanity struggling against Hitler so that his poisonous ideas may never take hold on these shores.  "Zora puca, bit' ce' dana."  September 20, 1941, Mayor of New York City.

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Map of Europe in early 1940's.... 

 I have a copy of this valuable historical map, but this particular image came courtesy of J.P. Mayer when he was refuting something written against the Serbs, and used this German map from 1940 as evidence to show where the Serbs lived in Yugoslavia then.  

(Click bottom right hand corner to enlarge map.)

(Click map of Yugoslavia on bottom right hand corner to enlarge)

Because so many of our dear readers are sharing their memoirs and photos with us of the WWII Operation Halyard Mission, we must add another page to our website dedicated to making sure the true story is known to a much wider audience.

At this time, my sincere gratitude goes to Melanie and Tim Limrick of Pittsburgh, PA for sharing info about their Uncle Bob Marjanovich with us. 

 

Also, to a new friend from Connecticut, Tech Ed (Industrial Arts) teacher Ted Connolly, whose late father Tom Connolly, was one of the airmen rescued by General Draza Mihailovich and his Serbian Chetniks, the OSS, and the American flyers.  Their stories are jaw-dropping exciting.... 

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Melanie is the daughter of the late Milan and Dara (Dorothy) Marjanovich Tomich, who had saved this information for posterity. 

Bob, May (another sister), and Dara's father (Melanie's grandfather) was a priest who died at quite a young age.  His mother sent Bob to study the priesthood in Belgrade in 1939, where he had received a scholarship.  On April 7, 1941, Germany dropped bombs on Belgrade, which was an open city, instantly killing 17,000 civilians and wounding thousands of others.  In his mad dash for safety, Bob was taken in and given shelter by strangers, but eventually found himself meeting up with the famous Maksimovich Brothers, a popular singing quartet he had met when they toured throughout America in 1936, making famous the song "O Marijana" throughout the USA. 

Bobby was listed as missing for almost three years....

 "The dapper yong man pictured above with his sister is Robert (Bogdan) Marjanovich, one of the valiant CHetniks fighting the Nazi hordes in the mountains of Yugoslavia under the leadership of Draza Mihailovich."  Dorothy was a manager of the Kroger Store in Leetsdale, PA.

General Mihailovich talking to his men, 1944

December 12, 1944, Ozren Mountains/Monastery

It was a good Christmas afterall!

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This is the farmhouse where Tom Connolly & his crew stayed.  Visit the Kosovo Men's Choir page on this site and see how we stayed at DrvenGrad that looks just like this.... we felt like Heidi.... high in the mountains in houses just like this!

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 This map from the collection of Ted Connolly, son of +Tom Connolly, one of the 513 rescued U.S. airmen marks a map of the region where the crew of the STRICTLY G.I airplane landed.  Marked in the margin here is the name of airman Percy Peterson, who was flying with the crew for the first time, 11/19/44. Unfortunately, he was killed.  

 Much, much more coming!  Stay tuned.

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 In another vein, it is important that we recall the efforts of Major Richard Felman to insure the story of Operation Halyard was always at the fore.

Thanks to the Serbian Unity Congress, we have this wonderful story by Sandy Marquette about a fine, fine man, Dick Felman.

http://www.serbianunity.net/culture/history/wwii/felman.html

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Another big loss for the Serbian People was Professor Dragoslav Djordjevich of California. The following tribute is from the Serbian Unity Congress, of which he was a Founding Member.
 
Dragoslav GeorgevIch, 
98,
 true 
patriot 
both

of
 Serbia 
and
America,
 died
 November
29, 
2008

in 
Monterey,
 California,
 exactly
 sixty 
years
 after 
arriving

in 
the
 United
 States.



Born 
in
 Obrenovac,
 Serbia,
on
 August 
9,
1910,
 he

graduated 
from 
the
 Yugoslav 
Military
 Academy 
in

Belgrade,
 Serbia 
(then
 Yugoslavia) 
and 
was
 a
 captain

attending
 the
 General 
Staff
 School 
when 
Germany

attacked
 Yugoslavia 
in
 April 
of
 1941.




After
 four 
years
 as
 a
 prisoner 
of
 war 
in
 Germany
 and
 another
 four
 as
 a
 displaced
 person
 in the British‐administered 
zone 
of

occupation 
post‐World
 War 
II,
 he
 refused 

to 
return
 to
 his
 native Serbia,
 which
 had 
become 
Communist
 after
 the
 War.



He
 decided
 to 
emigrate
 to
 the
 United 
States,

arriving
 in New 
York 
City
 on
 Thanksgiving
 Day 
in
 1948.


Dragoslav
 Georgevich 
spent
 nearly 
30 years 
teaching

Serbo‐Croatian 
at
 the
 Army 
Language 
School 
in

Monterey,
California,
 which 
later 
became 
the 
Defense

Language
 Institute,
 where
 he
 retired
 as 
the
 Chairman
 of 
the
 Serbo‐Croatian
 Department.

 He
 earned
 two
 post-graduate 
degrees,
 in
 history 
and 
linguistics 
at
 San 
Jose 
State 
University.


He
 wrote several books, including the notable "Na Raskrsnici" (At the Cross) which chronicled his converstations with Prince Paul Karadjordjevich, the Regent of Yugoslavia during the critical and fateful years between 1935 and 1941.

Shortly 
after
 arriving 
in 
the
 US,
 he and other Serbian patriots founded the "Cultural Club Saint Sava" in Chicago, which quickly became a beacon of Serbian ideas and aspirations, and for decades was in the forefront of Serbian Anti-Communist struggle. 



Dragoslav
Georgevich
 was 
also 
part 
of 
the
 genesis
 of 
the
 Serbian
 Unity 
Congress.

 Realizing
 that
 Communist
 Yugoslavia
 was 
on
 the
 verge 
of
 collapse,
 he 
and 
his
 son,
 Miroslav
 (Michael)Djordjevich) met in 

early
1989
 with
 Prince
 Andrej 
Karadjordjevic 
to
 discuss
 what
 could 
be 
done
 to 
revive
 Serbia 
and
 protect
 Serbian 
interests  in a post‐Communist
 world.


They 
were 
captivated by 
the
 idea of a new organization consisting primarily of young professionals of Serbian heritage who would actively help Serbia in transition from Titoism to Democracy. 
The 
concept
 resulted 
in
 the 
founding 
of
 the
 Serbian
 Unity
 Congress,
 SUC,
 in
 1990.

 Michael
 became 
the
 first
 president 
of
 the
 SUC;

Dragoslav
 Georgevich
 worked 
tirelessly
 to
 solidify 
grassroots 
support 
for
 SUC
 among 
the
 Serbian
 Diaspora
 in
 the
 ensuing
 years.


 
In Memorium -Slava mu!

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Finally!  Here's a photo of J.B. Allin, the photographer with the Halyard Mission, talking to Nick Lalich and Dr. Carpenter. Thank you to Dr. Jonathan Clemente for sharing this photo with us!

(Photo was enhanced.  No color photos then!) 

Jibby says that Dr. Clemente is a valuable contributor to the OSS listserv and is writing a book about the Medical conditions of Operation Halyard and other missions.

Here's what I found about Dr. Clemente on the Charlotte Radiology site:

Jonathan D. Clemente, M.D.

Medical School: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Residency: New York University Medical Center, New York, NY
Fellowship: Diagnostic Neuroradiology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY
Board Certification: American Board of Radiology, Certificate of Added Qualifications, Neuroradiology
Societies: RSNA, ARRS, NYRS, ACR, NC-ACR, NCMS, MCMS, Senior Member of the American Society of Neuroradiology, American Society of Head and Neck Radiology
Specialties: Neuroradiology

 And he's so nice to share!  Lots of (patients!) patience too!  Thanks so much!

Here are the two guys again, JP Allin and Nick Lalich, at a reception in Chicago for the Rescued Airmen sponsored by Aleksandra Rebic and her father, Rade Rebic in May of 1994.  Thanks for sharing, Aleks!

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Here's Mike Devyak and Lt. Col. McDowell on the move again.....

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A photo shared on Veteran's Day, (11/11/15) by Stephanie Lalich Adams of 3 American Serbs OSS heroes:  Lt. Joe Veselinovich, Lt. Mike Rajacich, and her father, Lt. Nick Lalich from WWII, Operation HALYARD.

Air drop on Christmas 1944

Thanks to Ted Connolly of Connecticut for sharing with all of us these photos from his late father's (Tom Connelly's) files. Be sure to place your pointer over the photo to enlarge seeing these packages drop by parachute.

The name of Connolly's airplane, "STRICTLY G.I.!"

A  letter to Tom Connolly's Mom stating on December 9, 1944, he's been missing since November 11.

On Dec. 27, two days after the airdrop, two C-47's were heard.  The planes arrived in Boljanic at the appointed hour, one of the pilots being Col. Kraigher, who had come to bring the airmen home.  Col. Kraigher had been with the Halyard Mission earlier, with the A.C.R.U., and there was much rejoicing.

George Vuynovich had loaded the planes with supplies as a gift to all the people of Boljanic and the Chetniks (Nationalist troops), who had escorted Halyard to the airstrip.  Lalich, Jibby, Marjanovich, the 25 American fliers and two blind Serbian officers flew out of Yugoslavia.

Nick Lalich reported that the Halyard Mission had successfully evacuated 604 people, of whom 513 were American airmen shot down over Yugoslavia. 

With much gratitude to General Draza Mihailovich and his followers who showed our American Airmen kindness and hospitality, and guarded them at huge risk to themselves and their families (sometimes their lives and fortunes) this page is humbly dedicated.

We also take time to recognize the courageous efforts of both the Serbs and the members of the Halyard Mission to make sure the U.S. airmen got safely home.

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Rescued airmen finally get some well-deserved rest!

Click bottom right hand corner to enlarge photo

The airmen above signed the back of this photo postcard:

from Jibby

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Chetnik guerrillas sabotaging RR tracks to derail German supply lines.

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Tom Connolly's Survival Maps

Out of the pouch....

Jibby, Lalich, Dr. Carpenter