In Boljanić near Doboj, tomorrow will mark the 81st anniversary of Operation Halyard and the rescue of Allied pilots carried out by members of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland.
The commemoration will be attended by the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Savo Minić. The program begins at 4:00 p.m. with the laying of wreaths at the memorial, followed by official addresses.
In Operation Halyard, a total of 500 Allied pilots were rescued, with 60 American airmen evacuated from an improvised airfield in Boljanić.
For this action, the commander of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, General Dragoljub Draža Mihailović, was posthumously awarded the highest U.S. military decoration – the Legion of Merit.
The operation, also known as the “Air Bridge,” was the largest rescue mission of American soldiers behind enemy lines in 1944 and 1945.
Under pressure from partisan forces, the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland moved from Serbia to eastern Bosnia in mid-October 1944. On Mount Ozren, near the village of Boljanić, an airstrip was prepared between October 22 and November 1, 1944.
From that airstrip, on November 1, 1944, a plane departed for Italy carrying the head of the U.S. military mission, Colonel Robert McDowell, Captain John Milodragovich, and Lieutenant Michael Rajachich.
On December 27, 1944, Captain Nick Lalić and radio operator Arthur Jibilian also flew from Boljanić to Italy.
The final evacuation from Ozren took place in late February 1945 during extremely cold weather, when two C-47 transport planes, escorted by several fighters, evacuated the remaining Americans.
In 2021, the President of the Halyard Foundation, John Cappello, presented a posthumous decoration in Boljanić to Cvijetin Todić, commander of the Ozren Chetnik Brigade of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, for rescuing Allied pilots during this mission.
The award was received by Cvijetin’s grandson, Darko Despotović, who emphasized that the Serb heroes must not be forgotten and that the Chetnik movement in the Ozren area prevented genocide against Serbs during World War II.
The commemoration of this historic event of republican significance is organized by the Government of Republika Srpska’s Committee for Fostering the Traditions of Liberation Wars.
Source: RTRS
