Friday, May 04, 2012

Fullbore Friday

You may not be able to pronounce his name - but you will never be able to forget his deeds.
In the summer of 1944, U.S. bombers attacked the Romanian oil fields in Ploesti that supplied the German war machine. They flew from Italy and across Yugoslavia to get there, but many were shot down. About 1,500 crewmen bailed out over Serbia and were taken in by local villagers and protected by Mihailovich's forces. Vujnovich devised a plan to get them out, which included secretly building an airfield without any tools, and assembled a team of Serbian-speaking agents to parachute in and lead the effort. "I taught these agents they had to take all the tags off their clothing," Vujnovich told the New York Times in 2010, when he received the Bronze Star for his efforts. "They were carrying Camel and Lucky Strikes cigarettes and holding U.S. currency. I told them to get rid of it. I had to show them how to tie their shoes and tuck the laces in, like the Serbs did, and how to eat like the Serbs, pushing the food onto their fork with the knife." The team jumped on Aug. 2, 1944, met with Mihailovich and got to work directing the airmen to build the airstrip. ... It was only 700 feet long, barely enough for the 15th Air Force's C-47s to use, but between Aug. 9 and Dec. 27, the rescuers spirited 512 airmen to freedom under the noses of the Nazis.
There is another Fullbore here ....



More honor sacrificed on the alter of appeasing Communists. If you are interested in the story; here is the book.


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