21th Anniversary of the Operation “Lightning“ commemorated

The commemorative ceremony was attended by the participants of the Operation and the families of the fallen defenders, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Željko Reiner, the Prime Minister, Tihomir Orešković, the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces as the Envoy of the President of the Republic, Lieutenant General Mirko Šundov, the Minister of Veterans Affairs Tomo Medved, the Deputy Defence Minister Tomislav Ivić and other senior civlian and military officials.
The attending officials paid respects to the fallen members by laying the wreaths and lighting the candles at the Central Cross in the Croatian War Veterans Memorial Park at the Okučani graveyard and read out the Roll of Honour from the Operation.
Thememorial mass for all fallen defenders and civilian victims of the Homeland War was served by the Bishop of Pžega, Msgr. Antun Škvorčević in the St. Vitus Parish Church of Okučani.
“The Operation Lightning was a key turning point of the Homeland War, which heralded the Operation Storm and final liberation of Croatia. Each occasion of the kind is emotional for me, as the participant of the Homeland War from the earliest days“, said the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament.
 The Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Tihomir Orešković stated: “We have gathered here today to pay our respects to all those who sacrified themselves for the free and democratic Croatia, of whom we are highly proud and will keep them in our memory“.
The Croatian Minister of Veterans Affairs Tomo Medved underlined that the Operation “Lightning“ was conducted by highest standards.  “It was the time of intensive training and capability upgrade of the Croatian Army  and we take gread pride in it“, said the Minister.  
The ceremony programme featured the flypast by three MiG-21 aircraft; the tournament  of the veterans and volunteers of the Homeland War from Brod-Posavina County and the marathon race of the “Hrvatski sokol“ Marathon Club from Osijek.
The ceremony also included the programme by the Honorary Battalion, the Military Police Regiment  and the Special Forces Command and the static display of the weaponry, the combat and non-combat equipment used by the Croatian Armed Forces and the presentation of the project “Kadet“ and of the military study programmes of the Croatian Defence Academy “Dr Franjo Tuđman“ .
The Operation was launched at 5.21 on  1 May 1995. Within the sole 31 hours 500 km2 were liberated and the motorway connecting the central Croatia and Slavonia was deblocked.  The human toll of the Operation was 42 killed and 162 wounded members of the Croatian Army and police.
The Operation saw the tragic death of Rudolf Perešin, the Croatian pilot who flew over a MiG 21 frm JNA to Austria in autumn 1991, during the worst attacks on Croatia, as his aircraft was downed.
The Operation “Lightning“ preceded the Operation “Storm“, which demonstrated the determination of the Republic of Croatia to restore the constitutional order throughout the national territory.