The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

After the lead C-47 misses the mark, the second plane makes a dramatic and successful landing amidst raucous cheers from everyone in Pranjane. The other three planes circle around and complete their landings. The C-47 crews receive flowers from jubilant Serbian women and girls. Nick Petrovich watches the scene unfold from half a mile away, where he is stationed on guard duty to warn of any German activity. To the teenaged Petrovich, the whole scene resembles a movie.

With four planes on the ground, 48 airmen are on their way out of Yugoslavia, including Oliver. Before they depart, one US airman removes his army boots and hands them to his new Serbian friend from a nearby village. Knowing that most villagers lack proper footwear, other airmen follow the example and begin tossing boots, socks, shirts, jackets, and anything they can spare. All four planes take off and successfully clear the treetops, but Musulin decides that the night landings are too dangerous, so he tells Jibilian to radio Bari and request more planes at dawn. At 8:00 in the morning, more C-47s arrive, this time with an escort from American fighter planes. While the fighters attack German positions on the ground, the C-47s land safely and evacuate another group of airmen, including Felman. Six more planes arrive at 9:00am, accompanied by 25 more US fighters. Musulin makes a humanitarian decision to evacuate two Chetniks in need of medical attention. This rankles his superiors in Bari, who are under orders not to deviate from official Allied policy by giving aid to Mihailovich. For several weeks, Musulin ignores orders to return to Bari. He finally leaves on August 26. Operation Halyard continues for six months, resulting in the rescue of 512 Allied airmen.

In Bari, the returning airmen receive orders to keep silent about the rescue. Felman understands the need for secrecy in an ongoing operation, but he also knows that the Allies have not changed their position on Mihailovich. Orsini is stunned to find his name listed among those killed in action. Vujnovich defies orders by falsifying paperwork and sending much-needed shoes and medical supplies to the Chetniks.

Meanwhile, the official cover-up is underway. Orsini is forced to sit through briefings in which senior officers repeat the same old lies about Mihailovich. Other airmen—who have not been shot down over Yugoslavia—repeat those lies, resulting in confrontations with the rescued airmen. As a result, an OSS officer orders Jibilian to stop telling his story.

Some airmen return to America before the end of the war. In New York, Felman reads a newspaper account that credits Tito’s Partisans with carrying out a raid in which Felman himself, alongside his Chetnik friends, personally participated. A brief story in the Washington Post describes the coded radio message and subsequent rescue of 250 airmen, but it does not mention the Chetniks or Mihailovich. As the war in Europe nears its conclusion, Tito, bolstered by years of generous Allied aid, wins control of Yugoslavia and, on April 5, 1945, signs an agreement with the Soviet Union that allows the Red Army into Yugoslavia. Mihailovich refuses exile but is now wanted by Tito’s Communist government; he is finally arrested in March 1946.

Repeating Tito’s lies and US State Department propaganda, the Western press reports that Mihailovich is accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Outraged, Jibilian and Felman approach the newspapers with their own stories. Leftist editors ignore them, but Felman finds an audience with the “staunchly anti-Communist” New York Journal American, which prints Felman’s pro-Mihailovich article on March 31, 1946 (252). Though trying to move on with their post-war lives, other rescued airmen notice Felman’s article, and they are reunited by their crusade to clear Mihailovich’s name. Felman takes the lead in the new National Committee for Defense of Draza Mihailovich and the Serbian People. Prompted by their returning heroes from Pranjane, small-town or regional newspapers run pro-Mihailovich stories that the national press largely ignores. Nearly two-dozen airmen descend on Washington, DC, where they are greeted by several thousand supporters. At first, the State Department refuses to acknowledge the airmen, but acting Secretary of State Dean Acheson reconsiders and meets briefly with McKool, now a law student in Dallas. President Truman declines a meeting.

Nonetheless, US public sentiment turns against the Communists. Press stories multiply, and even the State Department cannot ignore the injustice in Tito’s show trial. In Belgrade, Mihailovich’s trial begins on June 10, 1946. Though he preserves “a quiet dignity” (263), the verdict is a foregone conclusion (263). Mihailovich is convicted and executed one week later. The Washington Post blames the British and American governments for abandoning Mihailovich. Orsini weeps at the news. The other rescued airmen erupt in rage, frightening their families.