{"id":1643,"date":"2021-03-16T13:07:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T13:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/babamim.com\/?page_id=1643"},"modified":"2021-03-18T22:54:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T22:54:45","slug":"page-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/babamim.com\/index.php\/page-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Page 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Draza (<---click here) & Operation Halyard....\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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OSS Nick Lalich & General Draza Mihailovich enjoy a special moment of friendship in 1944…..<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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At the age of 7 yeas old, I knew about the famous rescue of the 500+ American airmen by General Draza Mihailovich and his Serbian Chetniks because my father, Milan Karlo, published Nick Lalich’s complete day-by-day diary in his magazine called\u00a0American SERB LIFE<\/strong>\u00a0in 1948.\u00a0 The magazine was short-lived due to the money investment involved, but it served its purpose nobly, standing as a strong sentinel down through the years, a beacon of undisputed proof, no matter the attempts to hide the information from the American people, and indeed the world.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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These two covers of the May and June 1948 issues featured St. George and Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich. Nick Lalich’s diary was published in a series of articles due to the length and wonderful photos included.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The articles were entitled:\u00a0 “I Was With Mihailovich”<\/span><\/p>

Here’s a close-up of the U.S. pilots sleeping in a loft.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Most of the time, the villagers gave the pilots their own beds, and the Serbs slept on the floor.\u00a0 They fed the airmen even though there would be nothing left for themselves or their family members! The US fliers loved the Serbian villagers and couldn’t understand how America could have been so bamboozled by the English moles into supporting Tito instead of Mihailovich.\u00a0<\/p>

The airman in the middle is\u00a0Curtis (Bud) Diles, now of Dayton, Ohio.<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u00a0 This is his whole crew. Bud said recently in an interview in Ypsilanti, “My 15 grandchildren, my 3 Great-grandchildren wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Serbs!\u00a0 I may be old, and I may be forgetful, but I will never forget the man nor the Serbians who cared for me in 1944.”<\/p>

*The photo ‘The Serbs have saved more than 600 American Fliers’ holds vivid memories for me. I learned of the photos existence fifty years later while visiting in Chicago. Obviously, all the fliers were exhausted and sound asleep in the photo. Having said that, obviously we did not know of the photographers presence. While in Chicago in 1993, I met the photographer, quite by accident. He was as much surprised to meet me as I was to meet him. His name?\u2026 J.B. Allin, who was attached to the Halyard Mission. This same photo appeared on page 49 in the November\/December issue of Serb World, U.S.A.

\u201cNick\u201d Lalich was a very good friend of mine in 1944 and continued to be a life-long friend until his recent death.

“The same photo has appeared in many publications during the past sixty years.

“However, I have never seen the men in the photo identified. I knew all of them, quite well.

“They were the enlisted men of my B-24 Liberator Bomber Crew, shot down by German anti-aircraft fire over Belgrade on Sept. 8, 1944. Only two of them are still living, including myself.

“Left to right in the photo, they are\u00a0Howard Ford, ball turret gunner; Gerald Wagner, radio operator; Curt Diles, nose turret gunner; Rudolph Schmidt, Flight Engineer; and Leland Porter, tail gunner. One of our crew, James Barker, was captured by the Germans and spent the balance of the war as a German prisoner.<\/span>

“The American Srbobran has published many of my articles over the past six decades.

“A faithful Serbian supporter,

Curt Diles
Dayton, Ohio
July 4, 2005<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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TIME Magazine had Chica Draza Mihailovich on the cover of their magazine and people around the world hailed the leader and his heroic resistance fighters in 1941, the FIRST to stand up to Hitler’s Germany.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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My copy of the LIBERTY magazine from April 25, 1942.\u00a0 “The Story of Draja\u00a0 (Draza) Mihailovitch\u00a0 (Mihailovic\/Mihailovich) -Fighter for Freedom.”<\/span><\/div>

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The caption reads: “The headache: General Draja Mihailovitch, Yugoslav War Minister and Chetnik commander in chief.” (p.18-LIBERTY magazine)<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A photo of some of the airmen with Nick Lalich\u00a0 with hat.\u00a0 Radioman\u00a0 Arthur (“Jibby”)\u00a0 Jibilian is\u00a0 kneeling in light-colored jacket in front.\u00a0 To Lalich’s right in a “sjakaca” hat is Bobby Marjanovich of Aliquippa, PA, who was studying for the priesthood in Belgrade, and was rescued by the Maksimovich Brothers singers when the unexpected bombing of the city by the Germans began.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0The ACRU & Medical Team.\u00a0 Note George Musulin (3rd from left), hugging Nick Lalich in the back row.\u00a0 The\u00a0“Milosh Obilich-Kosovo 1389-1937”<\/strong>\u00a0button from Wilmerding belonged to him! (See Kosovo page)\u00a0Don’t ever let ANYONE ever steal your history!<\/strong>\u00a0Pittsburgh’s Musulin was the person initially dropped behind the lines in charge of the Mission, replaced by Lalich. Jibby in the front middle.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Thanks to my cousin,\u00a0Lou Astorino,<\/strong>\u00a0I was able to secure this photo of George Musulin being on the 1938 Pirate (now Steelers) Football Team, working for Art Rooney before working for the OSS! \u00a0George is in the 2nd row from the top, next to the end on the right hand side. \u00a0George was replaced by Nick Lalich as the head person in charge of the Operation Halyard Mission, as he caught onto double-agent dealing English dirty spy tricks and they wanted him replaced. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>
Read the book: \u00a0THE FORGOTTEN 500\u00a0to learn more!<\/span><\/div>
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Here’s Jibby at the Museum in Serbia, when a few of the remaining airmen visited there.\u00a0 Many thanks to Jibby for sharing some photos!\u00a0 To read more about the FORGOTTEN 500, order the book.\u00a0 You’ll be glad you did!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Last mission out!\u00a0 Back safely in Bari, Italy!\u00a0 To the far right is\u00a0George Vuynovich<\/strong>, who was born on Pittsburgh’s South Side right behind from where the American Serbian Club is now!\u00a0 He graduated from Ambridge High School and was an SNF Stipendist in 1934.\u00a0 He married a beautiful girl from Serbia while there.\u00a0 To read more about how\u00a0“George”<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0led the mission to rescue the men, read the book!<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Here’s Jibby in a May 10, 1999 paper:\u00a0“I LOVE THE SERBS!”<\/strong>\u00a0 And the Serbs love Jibby, too! He’s the last surviving member of the team that rescued the 512 airmen that was in Yugoslavia.\u00a0 George Vuynovich, the officer in charge in Bari, Italy, lives in New York. Nick Petrovich, an 18-yr. old\u00a0 guard with Chica Draza, lives in Mexico.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Former U.S. Airman\u00a0Carl Walpusk\u00a0<\/strong>and his lovely wife Virginia, with a statue of Draza Mihailovich, the man who saved him!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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