It’s the stuff that great stories are made of, really. Something that “Old Hollywood” would have turned into ablockbuster starring the latest heartthrob movie hero. But it didn’t happen. It was a secret….
War and politics are inextricably intertwined and always have been. In this case, even revealing the story, nearly seventy years after it happened was not without consequences, or threats of such. Politically speaking, you could say we supported “the wrong side”….
It was 1944. WWII bombing strikes against the oil refineries in Romania increased as the Western Allies tried to bring Hitler to his knees. In the course of the bombing, many American airmen were shot down behind enemy lines. Crews parachuted to the ground, not knowing who might “greet” them when they got there…
In an OSS office in the US, a plan was hatched to rescue the downed airmen. Code-named the Halyard Mission, or Operation Halyard, it was a plan of huge proportions: sneak operatives into Yugoslavia, behind enemy lines, locate the airmen, build an air strip, and send C-47s in to rescue them.
Nearly 500 of them….
In other offices, in the United States and England, political maneuvering was taking place. The leader of the Yugoslavian resistance movement, Gen. Draza Mihailovich, was on the wrong side of the political machine, refusing to support the communist faction that was fighting the Italians and the Nazi’s. Trying to get support for Operation Halyard ran afoul of Winston Churchill, who had switched his allegiance to the communist faction.
With fierce determination, and unrelenting perseverance, OSS officer George Vujnovich, the son of Serbian immigrants, worked tirelessly to push the planned operation to fruition. Finally, in August of 1944, the first operatives parachuted into Yugoslavia.
On the orders of Gen. Mihailovich, the Chetnik resistance fighters had been hiding and protecting the growing number of downed American airmen, moving them frequently to avoid discovery by the Nazi army.
Incredibly, they were also able to build a crude landing strip, long enough for C-47s to land. And on several nights in August, 1944, and September of the same year, American C-47s, protected by P-51s, landed, loaded, and carried a total of 500 downed airmen to freedom.
Political queasiness kept the mission secret for years after the war. Those involved in the rescue went back to their daily lives as best they could. And then, in October of 2010, George Vujnovich received his much-deserved Bronze Star.
Frail, pale, and wheelchair-bound, the 95-year-old hero was humbled by the ceremony. Looking straight at the photographers, his medal pinned to his lapel, his demeanor was resolute. He did his job, that's all...
And just one week ago today, this American hero died. Another member of the Greatest Generation has left us….
War and politics are inextricably intertwined and always have been. In this case, even revealing the story, nearly seventy years after it happened was not without consequences, or threats of such. Politically speaking, you could say we supported “the wrong side”….
It was 1944. WWII bombing strikes against the oil refineries in Romania increased as the Western Allies tried to bring Hitler to his knees. In the course of the bombing, many American airmen were shot down behind enemy lines. Crews parachuted to the ground, not knowing who might “greet” them when they got there…
In an OSS office in the US, a plan was hatched to rescue the downed airmen. Code-named the Halyard Mission, or Operation Halyard, it was a plan of huge proportions: sneak operatives into Yugoslavia, behind enemy lines, locate the airmen, build an air strip, and send C-47s in to rescue them.
Nearly 500 of them….
In other offices, in the United States and England, political maneuvering was taking place. The leader of the Yugoslavian resistance movement, Gen. Draza Mihailovich, was on the wrong side of the political machine, refusing to support the communist faction that was fighting the Italians and the Nazi’s. Trying to get support for Operation Halyard ran afoul of Winston Churchill, who had switched his allegiance to the communist faction.
With fierce determination, and unrelenting perseverance, OSS officer George Vujnovich, the son of Serbian immigrants, worked tirelessly to push the planned operation to fruition. Finally, in August of 1944, the first operatives parachuted into Yugoslavia.
On the orders of Gen. Mihailovich, the Chetnik resistance fighters had been hiding and protecting the growing number of downed American airmen, moving them frequently to avoid discovery by the Nazi army.
Incredibly, they were also able to build a crude landing strip, long enough for C-47s to land. And on several nights in August, 1944, and September of the same year, American C-47s, protected by P-51s, landed, loaded, and carried a total of 500 downed airmen to freedom.
Political queasiness kept the mission secret for years after the war. Those involved in the rescue went back to their daily lives as best they could. And then, in October of 2010, George Vujnovich received his much-deserved Bronze Star.
Frail, pale, and wheelchair-bound, the 95-year-old hero was humbled by the ceremony. Looking straight at the photographers, his medal pinned to his lapel, his demeanor was resolute. He did his job, that's all...
And just one week ago today, this American hero died. Another member of the Greatest Generation has left us….
Cali
