BLAGOJEVICH: I BELIEVE IN TRUMP - DODIK COOPERATION

DOBOJ, JUNE 24 /SRNA/ - Former governor of the U.S. state of Illinois Rod Blagojevich stated that Operation Halyard served to renew the friendship between the American and Serb peoples during the most difficult times and expressed his belief that the same will be true for the Republika Srpska - the United States relations, particularly the relation between Presidents Donald Trump and Milorad Dodik.

"This represents an exchange of experiences between the Serb and American peoples during the hardest moments of war. It’s very important to explain to the American people that these two nations share the same wartime experience, created in hardship, and to use that as inspiration to renew the friendship between Americans and Serb, as well as between Republika Srpska and the U.S.A. I believe the same kind of relations will exist between President Donald Trump and Milorad Dodik," Blagojevich told the press in Boljanić near Doboj.

He said it was a great honour to experience Serb hospitality, warmth, friendship, and love today in Boljanić.

"I remember the song `Planina moja` /My Mountain/ from when I was a child, and I never thought I would one day be here," Blagojevich told the press in Boljanić, where 60 of a total of 500 Allied pilots were rescued during the Halyard – Airlift operation carried out by the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland under the command of General Dragoljub Mihailović.

Blagojevich, a close associate of U.S. President Donald Trump, noted that this operation connects the past with the present and serves as an important reminder for the American people of a heroic and unique alliance.

In addition to Blagojevich, the envoy of the president of Republika Srpska, Boris Jerinić - who is also the Mayor of Doboj - laid a wreath alongside a delegation from Srpska.

Present in Boljanić were also parliament member of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Danijel Jošić, the head of the SNSD caucus in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Sanja Vulić, Deputy Minister in the Council of Ministers Aleksandar Goganović and member of the Halyard Foundation Board Ratko Ristić.

The Airlift operation was the largest rescue mission of American soldiers behind enemy lines during 1944 and 1945.

Under pressure from partisan forces, the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland withdrew from Serbia to eastern Bosnia in mid-October 1944. Near the village of Boljanić on Mount Ozren, an airfield was made operational between October 22 and November 1, 1944.

In 2021, the President of the Halyard Foundation, John Cappello, posthumously awarded a 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 operation. The award was received by his grandson, Darko Despotović, who emphasized that Serb heroes must not be forgotten and stated that the Chetnik movement in the Ozren area had prevented genocide against Serbs during World War II.