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They sang “Villa de Košar”, lit candles and took the bloody shirt of one of our heroes, which was found by a reporter from “Novosti” at the end of August, 21 years after the epic battle!
His votive journey began at the Visoki Decani monastery. There was a man waiting to lead them. However, when they arrived, the escort surrendered. Neither the Serbs nor the Albanians wanted to take them on that trip. They were also turned away by taxi drivers. Determined not to give up their intention, they set out for Kosar on foot.
They tried to pay tribute with candles and wine, in the watchtower itself, symbol of the heroic struggle of the Serbian army in the defense of the country against the terrorists of the KLA and NATO, on several occasions in previous years, but it was always prevented by the local population . However, when they recently read the text about the “Novosti” reporter’s departure to the watchtower, it encouraged them.
They packed their cloaks in backpacks, donned hiking suits with American insignia to look like foreigners, and made a determined departure from Decani. Shortly after, one of the three, who was at war in the watchtower in 1999, suffered terrible back pain, so, aware that he could not bear several hours of walking, he decided to give up. But he returned to Decani, where he took a car with Serbian license plates, then connected the unsuspecting companions to Junik village to shorten his journey at least a little.
Photo: Novosti
PRESENTED
They’re like Chicago journalists who go to the KLA Memorial
Seeing the Serbian license plates, the Albanians, as they claim, tried to push them off the road, threw stones at them, but paid no attention to them. A few meters from Junik, they stopped the car and continued, as they say, with God’s help.
– Nenad left us in front of Junik, we both ran out of the car with the agreement that he would return to Decani, to pick us up when we finished. At first everything went wrong. First because no one wanted to take us to the watchtower. Then we lost the curve towards the village of Batuša, so we passed four other villages through which they all looked at us and measured us like on a scanner. When we realized that we had lost the town, we returned, perhaps 7-8 kilometers. We are already suspicious of people, and since we could not sleep in the monastery because of the covid, because visits are prohibited, we slept in the car and the phone batteries were almost empty, a story for our newspaper Milos, a priest from Belgrade.
Realizing that they would lose almost an entire day if they continued on foot, they decided to accept the help of a man in a car who stopped to ask if they needed anything. It turned out to be a local plainclothes police officer, leading them where they were looking.
Photo: Novosti
– We told him that we were journalists from Chicago and that we wanted to go to the KLA Memorial Complex. The man was very kind, he even wanted to take us there, but we knew that he would accompany us to the watchtower later and that we could not hold the memorial service because of him. So somehow we convinced him that we would continue alone, on foot. That’s how it went. By the way, since we were fasting and wanted to receive communion, we had nowhere to buy fasting food, and we forgot to bring water, so we were already hungry and thirsty. When we started up Prokletije, we came across streams, so we drank water from there. At some point, a car caught up with us again. About two boys, barely spoke English. And they were right, they asked where we were going and stopped right on our turn for the watchtower. We pretended not to know anything about the watchtower, we asked if it was safe to go, they said yes and that they were waiting for us at the Memorial Complex when we finished the supposed painting of the watchtower – Miloš tells us.
Then, he says, the real walk began.
– We found two sticks where the path begins through the forest itself, which is still mined and full of cluster bombs. I recognized from the photos that they were the sticks of a journalist who was on duty a month ago, and that made me very happy and encouraged me to continue. There were many snakes on the trail. At some point we come across a huge stream. We barely crossed. When we were running out of strength, we finally saw the watchtower – he recalls and adds that at that moment, they both cried.
Photo: Novosti
ALBANIANS
seeing them with Serbian dishes, they threw stones at them
Milos says there was no one.
– And the feeling was as if all those soldiers had saluted us. Our heroes. I still shudder when I think about it. We visited the watchtower, made sure everything was “clean”. In the place where the journalist lit the candle, there were no cigarette butts or traces of wax, they took everything out. Then I went upstairs and put on my robe, because in case someone came, I would have time to change. I lit a candle, sprinkled wine on the watchtower, and began to read the prayer. When I finished I packed some pebbles as a souvenir. From the top I looked directly at the Albanian flag, which has been flying from the watchtower since 1999, after the withdrawal of our army. Some emotions overwhelmed me and I reached over and took it off. It’s like I owe it to these guys who gave their lives for the country. May God judge me if it is sin. On the way back, I picked up the bloody shirt of the Serbian soldier on whom he wrote “Novosti”. I brought everything I could and the rest of the boots. I will donate all that to our army and border guards – the young priest tells us.
However, his suffering did not end there. Upon their return to Batuša, they were now stopped by a third car with two young men and a girl in it. Convinced that, as on the previous two occasions, everything would be fine, they accepted the help and entered. At the same time, everyone began to examine them in detail. They spoke English without error. They were interested in knowing where they are from, who they are, where they are going, why they are there.
THE WHITE DOG FOLLOWED THEM
MILOS also remembers the moment when he got out of the car in front of Junik and went to the watchtower with a friend. In an instant, he says, a beautiful white dog appeared in front of them and followed them the entire time, until they lost the curve.
– Where we should have turned, it stopped and did not advance, and we extended another 10 kilometers in the wrong direction. When we returned, it was gone. That was really weird for us. He followed us all the time, he did not separate from us – he wondered.
– I said that I speak little English and that my friend does not speak anything. I said I was from Indonesia and then I realized I had said the biggest nonsense in a second. They asked how we crossed the border when there was a kovid, when we were going, they asked us the names and surnames of the people we were going to. Then they started dialing some phone numbers. We were convinced that they understood that we were Serbs. I asked them to stay with us in Junik and that our Albanian friend would come and pick us up. We offered to pay for the trip and they accepted. We went into Junik’s shop and they were waiting in front. I thought there was a camera there and it was safer to stay there. I said to the other, whatever happens, we stay together, there is no escape, we are safer here in the middle of town. At some point, however, the car left and we headed back to my colleague who was waiting in front of Junik. He later told us that the truck almost pushed him down the road when he was coming, because he saw Serbian license plates. When we saw it, we flew to the car almost out the window, happy to have pulled out a live head – he said.
He took the flag and parts of the uniform that they found on the road as a souvenir of this trip that could have cost him his life. He will bring something to the memorial hall in Vranje. His only regret is that he believes that in the future, for everything, he will be banned from Kosmet, where he used to go to work, from Prizren, Gjakova, Peja, to Pristina and Gracanica.
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