114 | April• 2018
escapees reached the Serbian town
of Banja Luka in Bosnia, from where
they were eventually evacuated on an
American DC-3 to Bari in Italy. When
they arrived in Bari they were all skin
and bones.A STORY REVEALED
Ern ofered me Puks’s cap during our
irst interview in 2009. I had seen a
photograph of it in his book and was
taken by its historical significance.
I knew that he treasured the parti-
zanka cap and had proudly showed
it to mates at his local RSL club.
Ern appreciated my knowledge of
the place where he spent the finalbrother. He was furious with his
brother for siding with the enemy,
so he jumped on his feet, breaking
bones. Appalled, Eric went to inter-
vene but Ern stopped him, clamping
a hand over his friend’s mouth and
urging him to keep out of it.
Ern and his mates befriended Boris
Puks, a 21-year-old Partisan and for-
mer University of Zagreb student. In
Boris, Ern found someone who liked
to talk about the war and who liked
to postulate about what the future
might bring. “He was a nice guy,” Ern
writes in his book. “One day, he gave
me his Partisan cap as a gift.”
After 62 days on the run, the
Ern was given this partizanka as a symbol of friendship by a young Partisan,
Boris Puks, in Croatia in 1944iendship by a young Partisan,iendshipby ayoung PartisanPHOTOS: ISTOCK