MINIĆ: SERBIAN TRICOLOR HAS NEVER BEEN ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY

DOBOJ, OCTOBER 3 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić said today in Boljanić near Doboj that this place bears witness to the idea of freedom, which is priceless to the Serbian people and always has been.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the 82nd anniversary of Operation Halyard – Air Bridge, Minić noted that in those years, just a few kilometres away, Serbs were being executed without any justification, yet despite this, Serbs were prepared to sacrifice themselves and everything they had for the cause of freedom and alliance.

"Our tricolor has never been on the wrong side of history," Minić said.

According to him, Donald Trump’s return to office has made it clear how important it is to have a leader who understands history.

"We remain committed today to the history of the Serbian people and our idea of freedom. I wonder whether this event would be commemorated if this place were in the Federation of BiH," Minić said.

He added that it is up to us to restore relations with friends with whom we share a common history and preserve a friendship that bordered on brotherhood, when the Serbian people were prepared to give their lives for someone they regarded as a comrade.

Minić stressed that Republika Srpska and Serbia are one entity, as historical records show.

"I want us to send a clear message from this place that it will mean much more to us to build these relations with all our friends who genuinely embrace the idea of freedom, the idea of antifascism, the fight against Nazism and everything that represents evil," Minić said.

He said that the Serbian people would never be on the wrong side of history.

In Operation Halyard – Air Bridge, carried out by forces of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland under the command of General Dragoljub Draža Mihailović, more than 500 pilots were rescued, including 60 Allied airmen in Boljanić.

The operation was the largest effort to rescue American servicemen behind enemy lines in 1944 and 1945.

In mid-October 1944, the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, under pressure from Partisan forces, moved with its units from Serbia to eastern Bosnia. An airstrip was then prepared on Mount Ozren, near the village of Boljanić outside Doboj, between October 22 and November 1, 1944.

On November 1, 1944, a plane took off from the airstrip for Italy carrying the head of the US military mission, Colonel Robert McDowell, Captain John Milodragović, and Lieutenant Michael Rajacic.

On December 27, 1944, Captain Nick Lalić and radio operator Arthur Jibilian flew from the airstrip in Boljanić to Italy.

The final evacuation from Ozren took place in late February 1945 in extremely cold weather. The remaining Americans were evacuated in two C-47 transport aircraft escorted by several fighter planes.

The commemoration of this historic event, which is of importance to Republika Srpska, is organized by the Republika Srpska Government Committee for the Preservation of the Traditions of Liberation Wars.