On Wednesday, 21 September 2016, University Business Academy in Novi Sad hosted a special lecture entitled: “OSS HALYARD MISSION- A HEROIC OPERATION OF RESCUING OVER 500 AMERICAN AND ALLIED AIRMEN BEHIND ENEMY LINES IN SERBIA DURING WORLD WAR II”. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Xenia Vujnovich Wilkinson, a retired U.S. diplomat.

Prof. Marijana Carić wished all the attendees a very warm welcome and opened this extremely interesting lecture, emphasizing the significance of this little known military operation which has remained one of the greatest rescue missions in the entire wartime history.

During her extraordinary presentation, Dr. Xenia Vujnovich spoke about the Halyard Mission which was carried out on the territory of the today’s Serbia during World War II and thus shed light on some historical events which were little known by most people, including our numerous guests and students of the Faculty of Law for Commerce and Judiciary and Faculty of Economics and Engineering Management. Dr. Wilkinson first shared with us some important facts about her roots and family history, talking about her grandparents who immigrated to America from Lika in early 20^th century, where they worked in steel factories and struggled to make a living. Her father, George Vujnovich was born there and many years later won a scholarship by the Serbian National Federation to study at the University of Belgrade. That is how George Vujnovich ended up studying in Belgrade in 1934.

All attendees of this special lecture had a unique opportunity to hear some very interesting details from the life of Dr. Xenia Vujnovich Wilkinson’s parents: George Vujnovich, her father, who was awarded the Army’s Bronze Star Medal for his role in the Halyard Mission, and his wife, Mirjana Lazich, Dr. Wilkinson’s mother, who was an English professor at the Gymnasium in Belgrade before the war intervened.

After the lecture, students of our University and our dear guests enjoyed an authorized documentary made about the Halyard Mission, in which authentic interviews with Mr. Vujnovich and many other witnesses and participants in the Halyard Mission were used. All of them shared their first-hand experiences and impressions of this extremely courageous rescue operation that took place in Serbia during World War II. Authors of the documentary, Daniel Šunter and Bojan Dragićević were also present during the lecture and were happy to receive questions and comments after the documentary.