[ad_1]
A terrible accident shook Serbia. Two brave heroes, fighter pilots of the Serbian army, Captain 1st Class Zvonko Vasiljevic and Major Pilot Dejan Krsnik, were killed together today in the crash of a MiG-21 military plane, not far above their homes. An identical accident happened to the Pavlović family 21 years ago when pilot Milenko Pavlović died while defending his homeland from NATO aggressors, flying over his native Valjevo.
Today, in the small village of Brasina, near Loznica, as our reporters attest, the only thing we can hear is the lamentations of his relatives and neighbors.
The pilot Zvonko Vasiljevic announced to his parents just an hour before that he would fly over the house.
– Zvonko made a circle over the place where he grew up. The parents knew they would fly over the house. An hour before, he had announced that he would stop by. I heard a sound greeting my parents. It was a greeting for the future … He was descending to the ground spinning, he came back up, but he did not succeed … What happened happened … I saw it all – said my neighbor Cedomir Andrić “Telegraf.rs”.
From the home of the late Zvonko V. a lament can be heard echoing down the street. The place is empty, rarely does anyone walk down the street. Those they find walk with their heads down. They only say words of praise and teary eyes on the deceased neighbor.
– Half an hour before the flight, Zvonko called me, told me to go out to the terrace to fly over our houses. I waited for him “like the frozen sun”, he is our pride and joy in every way, both as a child, as a man and as a pilot. I don’t know what happened in the meantime – mother Mara told “Novosti”.
In the words of the friend of the dead pilot, Zvonko’s uncle was a veteran, an experienced pilot and was at war in the former Yugoslavia.
– Zvonko inherited from him her love of flying. As a child he said he would be a pilot. He was not interested in another occupation. He was one of the best students and then a pilot. Zvonko was on vacation last month and was in town. He was very attached to the village – said one of his friends who is incredulous and still does not accept that Zvonko no longer exists.
“Mother of your children, you will not die, I will die”
With the words: “Mother of your children, you will not die, I will die”, Pavlović pulled his younger colleague out of the cockpit of the “MiG-29” and set out to defend the homeland himself. His plane was hit by three NATO missiles while flying over his hometown.
21 years ago, on May 4, 1999, Colonel Milenko Pavlović, then commander of the 204th Fighter and Aviation Regiment of the Yugoslav Army, died defending the Serbian sky from NATO aggressors.
On the fateful day, when the order came to take off in NATO planes flying over Valjevo, I was on duty at the relocated command post in Stara Pazova. He immediately called his assistant and ordered him to prevent his younger colleague from flying at all costs. Just ten minutes after the call, Milenko was on the Batajnica airport tarmac.
Alone against 16 aggressive aircraft
He walked over to “MIG 29” and literally pulled a colleague out of the cockpit. With the words: “Mother of your children, you will not die, I will die!”, She flew in the direction of Valjevo, and from there to the legend. She died fighting alone against 16 attacking planes. She withstood the attack for a full 12 minutes, and then her colleagues only heard two words: “They have me” …
Milenko was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. The Serbian Orthodox Church awarded his family the Order of the Holy Bishop Nikolaj, but sadly, he never received the Order of the People’s Hero.
[ad_2]
