BELGRADE, Nov. 10 (Tanjug) - The remains of Milunka Savic, Serbian heroine of the Balkan Wars and World War I, were transferred to the Alley of the Greats at the Novo Groblje cemetery in Belgrade on Sunday. The remains of Milunka Savic, were laid to rest 40 years after her death, during a ceremony with full military and state honors. The commemorative ceremony and memorial service for the great woman soldier was attended by family members, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Ministers Nebojsa Rodic, Ivan Mrkic, Velimir Ilic, Tomislav Jovanovic, Aleksandar Antic and Milan Bacevic. The ceremony was also attended by Deputy Parliament Speaker Konstantin Arsenovic, Deputy Chairman of the Belgrade City Assembly Zoran Alimpic, Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic, Roman Catholic Church Archbishop of Belgrade Stanislav Hocevar, officials of foreign embassies and military attaches of 19 countries and a large number of people. Wreaths were laid at Milunka Savic’s grave by the Serbian president; on behalf of the government, by Minister Aleksandar Antic; and on behalf of the Serbian parliament, the City of Belgrade and the Serbian Armed Forces, by Arsenovic, Alimpic and Dikovic, respectively.
Before Savic’s remains were laid in the grave, President Nikolic said it is never too late for others to mend the transgressions they have committed against the Serbian people. He said that the Yugoslav ideology, the doctrine of diminishing the significance of everything concerning Serbia, has plunged the country and its tradition – all the great men distinguished in war, culture, economy and the pre-WWII historical context – into darkness. The Serbian president said that he believes in the consistency of both individual and collective memory and devotion to one’s country and that Serbia will therefore keep the memory of the woman who, in the midst of all the great men, was the greatest “hero” of World War II. “By paying homage to Milunka Savic on the eve of the celebration of World War I Armistice Day, we, her grateful descendants, are paying homage to all our heroic ancestors,” said the Serbian president.
The memorial service for Milunka Savic was conducted by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej.
Milunka Savic, the Serbian Joan of Arc, took part in both of the Balkan Wars and in World War I. Milunka was born in the village of Koprivnica, near Raska, southwest Serbia, in the late 19th century, and she took part in the Balkan Wars under the name Milun Savic, passing herself off as a man as no woman was allowed to take part in the war as soldier. Her “secret” was discovered after she was wounded in the chest in the Battle of Bregalnica in 1913. She died on October 5, 1973.