KOMANDANTE GISˇKA 183Belgrade, and he is remembered fondly to this day in Serbian nationalist
circles. His grave is marked by a Rocky Balboa–like life-size statue of him
carved into a wall, with an inscription in Cyrillic. There are also several
Facebook pages in his honor.
Serbs are passionate about their history, and their wars are fueled as much
by their centuries-old legends and beliefs as they are by rakija, traditional
homemade fruit brandy. Serbs get misty-eyed when recounting the Battle
of Kosovo of 1389, which they lost, and they would cite that ancient
history as justification for repressing ethnic Albanians in the 1990s. It is
entirely possible that Božović will go down in Serbian history as a true hero
who defended his people against the Croats, and future wars and atrocities
may be committed in his name.
Although Serb aggression in the 1990s is well-documented, less
remembered today are true acts of heroism carried out by nationalist Serb
Chetnik forces during World War II. The Chetniks fought both the Nazis
and the Communists and rescued hundreds of downed American pilots
in Nazi-controlled territory. The OSS (precursor of the CIA) collaborated
with the Chetniks on Operation Halyard, which resulted in the rescue of
between four hundred and five hundred downed American and Allied
pilots. It was the largest rescue operation of its kind in American history.^1