MILAN TEPIĆ REMEMBERED 35 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

BIJELJINA, SEPTEMBER 29 /SRNA/ - Major Milan Tepić was killed on this day in 1991, when, during fighting with Croatian paramilitary units, he blew up a Yugoslav People's Army /JNA/ barracks in Bjelovar rather than surrender an ammunition depot to the enemy.

For this act, Tepić was posthumously awarded the Order of the People's Hero of Yugoslavia and proclaimed a national hero.

While fighting continued for the barracks at Vojnović, JNA Major Milan Tepić, commander of the "Barutana" ammunition depot in the village of Bedenik near Bjelovar, blew up a warehouse containing 170 tons of explosives in order to prevent weapons and ammunition from being handed over to members of the Croatian paramilitary formation ZNG /Zenge/.

Tepić was killed in the explosion, along with 19-year-old soldier Stojadin Mirković, who, despite Tepić's order, refused to surrender.

"People give their word only once - it either stands or is broken. I gave my word that I would defend this country if it ever found itself in difficult times", Major Milan Tepić wrote in his final letter.

Streets in cities across Serbia and Republika Srpska today bear Tepić's name, while the Army of Republika Srpska established a special wartime decoration in his honor, the "Milan Tepić" Order of Merit.

In Komlenac near Kozarska Dubica, Tepić's birthplace, the anniversary of what is commemorated there as his heroic death is marked every year.

Soldier Stojadin Mirković was posthumously awarded the First-Class Order of Merit in the Field of Defense and Security in 1999.

His remains were buried in July 1995 in his native village of Donje Leskovice near Valjevo, where a memorial bust was unveiled in his honor in 2013.

The City of Valjevo posthumously awarded Mirković its highest recognition, the September Charter, and a street in the city also bears his name.

The Croatian side confirmed the loss of 11 soldiers in the explosion at Bedenik. In retaliation, the commander of the guard at the facility, Senior Sergeant Ranko Stevanović, was executed.

Almost no one was convicted for crimes against members of the JNA, the only legal and regular army in the SFRY at the time, when Croatia was still formally part of the federation.