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

The American airmen who parachuted into Yugoslavia in 1943-1944 received love, gratitude, and protection from General Mihailovich’s Chetnik forces and the local Serbian villagers who supported them.

American airmen reported similar experiences once they reached the ground in Yugoslavia. After walking for a while to find help, Clare Musgrove was “grateful” that a group of women invited him to follow them into a nearby village, where “a burly man with a beard” (40) came out to welcome him. Other airmen were still descending from above when they noticed people on the ground running in their direction. After hitting the ground and breaking his clavicle, Tony Orsini awakened to the sight of a “heavyset woman” comforting him, “cradling his head,” and “saying soothing things” in a language he could not understand” (44). Mike McKool was stunned when a group of villagers rushed toward him and began “fighting one another for a chance to kiss him on the cheek” (48). A group of “at least twenty people” ran to Richard Felman and started “hugging and kissing him fervently” before leading him into their village, where he was “greeted like a celebrity” (52). A Chetnik officer later explained to Felman that the locals “felt honored” to have the airman in their village “because they considered American airmen to be brave warriors” (54) who were helping them fight back against the Nazis.