March 9, 2008
Letter to the Editor St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dear Editor: The writer of the article: Missouri National Guard troops to head to Kosovo, reveals an insulting level of hypocrisy, or worse, a writer who is out of touch with his own community. Serbians have played a major roll in St. Louis and in defense of our government. There are maritime treaties between Serbia and the US more than 115 years old. Serbs were our allies in two World Wars and lost 34% of their population fighting and dying for freedom. American Serbs have proven time and again their dedication and commitment to the United States. Serbs proudly served in the American Civil War, the Spanish-American Wars, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. The Dokman family of Kansas City, Missouri had seven sons in the military service at the same time during WWII. A building at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is named for Lance Sijan, a Serb, for his bravery in Vietnam. He died in his prison cell shared with Senator John McCain. In 1994, the Serbian people in the US celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Serbian Orthodox church built on American soil. That church in the gold country of Jackson, California is used to this very day—a testimony to the religious convictions of the Serbs and their rightful place in this democracy which they helped to build, including Serbian churches in Missouri. The destruction of 180 ancient Serbian churches in Kosovo in the past 7 years is a clear indication of the real victims of Genocide in Kosovo as over 350,000 Serbs and non-Albanians have been cleansed from the region, right under the noses of 17,000 NATO troops as though those Serbs did not deserve protection or equal human rights. Thinking the Missouri National Guard will do any better is naive. These Albanian Muslims believe in the world-wide "jihad" movement of murdering we "infidels," and what a disgrace that the Bush administration supports these KLA Muslims who just 6 years ago were listed as a "terrorists" organization. Hashim Tachi, the Kosovo Prime Minister, has the bloodiest hands in Kosovo. In 1905, Rade Grba, a young Serbian-American from the south side of Chicago was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by the US for his heroic actions in the Navy. There are 8 Serbian Congressional Medals of Honor recipients. The first person in history to receive 2 Congressional Medals, Lou Cukelja, was a Serb who also received the highest decoration given by France, Belgium and Serbia. There are thousands of Serbian Purple Heart recipients. Serbian-Americans can be proud of the youngest Two-Star general in the American army, Rudy Ostovich III and Two-Star General Mel Vojvodich. Ed Radkovich headed Air Force Intelligence in Europe and Brigadier General George Karamarkovic the US Marine Corp. The U.S. military also included Admiral Stevan Mandarich and Col. Mitchell Page. The NASA space program is replete with Serbian engineers and scientists. Thirteen top executives in the space program are Serbs. Mike Vucelic received the Freedom Award from President Johnson for his work in the Apollo program. Sending American sons and daughters to Kosovo to defend terrorists who have succeeded in reducing the Serbian population of Kosovo from 21% ten years ago to less than 3% today is a mockery of our belief in democracy and freedom. Amputating 15% of Serbia's territory because it has been invaded by Albanians is illegal and violates the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and numerous international laws. No mention is made in your article that 40% of the Albanians in Kosovo are illegal aliens who cross the border from Albania into Serbia as easily as illegal Mexicans cross our border each night in San Diego. Defending these people from Camp Bondsteel, now the largest American military base in Europe, and built on Serbian land without compensating the Serbian farmers who owned that land for generations reveals the depth of American duplicity and the betrayal of their former Serbian allies. William Dorich Los Angeles, CA The writer is the author of 5 books on Balkan history including his 1992 book, Kosovo.
