OSS agent who led WWII rescue of 500 dies in NY
Source: AP via ABC
George Vujnovich, the intelligence agent who organized a World War II mission to rescue more than 500 U.S. bomber crew members shot down over Nazi-occupied Serbia, has died at his home in New York. He was 96.
Vujnovich is credited with leading the so-called Halyard Mission in what was then Yugoslavia. It was the largest air rescue of Americans behind enemy lines in any war.
A long retired salesman of aircraft parts, he died April 24 of natural causes at home in Queens, according to his daughter, Xenia Wilkinson.
The Serbian-American and Pittsburgh native was an officer of the OSS, the precursor of today's CIA, when about 500 pilots and other airmen were downed over Serbia in the summer of 1944 while on bombing runs targeting Hitler's oil fields in Romania, according to U.S. government field station files.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oss-agent-led-wwii-rescue-500-dies-ny-16257339
Pirate Smile
(27,617 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,712 posts)Wishing safe passage to a true hero.
Vidar
(18,335 posts)nradisic
(1,362 posts)I had the honor of meeting George and his wife years ago. A great Serbian and a great American. RIP...
MaineDem
(18,161 posts)May in rest in peace.