President Milanović at 30th anniversary commemoration for 11 Croatian defenders killed at Pakoštane: They will never be forgotten
The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović attended today a commemoration marking the 30th anniversary of the killing of Miro Kukin and ten Homeland War defenders in the municipality of Pakoštane. President Milanović unveiled a plaque on Debeljak hill honouring the memory of eleven Croatian defenders killed in the Homeland War, laid a wreath and lit a candle.
In the President’s address he expressed a wish that there be no more wars in Croatia and that commemorations honouring the death of Croatian heroes in the Homeland War be a reminder of the last Croatian war that generations of Croatian people had to fight.
“Today when wars are raging in the east, I wish this one to be the last Croatian war fought by a generation of Croatian people, and that there be no other war for a long time”, he said, and added: “The eleven lives that were lost on this strategic hill are a pledge of faith, be it of civil, human or religious nature for the believers, which are the majority. It was defended and will never be threatened again. The Croatian Army is here if need be to defend the homeland once again. Those who laid down their lives – regardless of what some say, a man cannot give more than his life – mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, friends, girlfriends will never forget, nor will those who were here with them and stayed alive”, President Milanović stated.
“This is debt of remembrance, a debt of honour paid thirty years later by a generation of people that is no longer young to those who have fallen. They say that every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the second time when he is forgotten. These men will never be forgotten”, the President noted.
The volunteer defenders from Pakoštane, some 400 of them, actively participated in all the Croatian Army’s war operations until the liberation itself, and eleven Croatian defenders perished while defending Debeljak hill.
Alongside President Milanović was the Special Adviser for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković and retired general Ante Gotovina.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek