81st Guards Battalion marks 20th anniversary

The Order was presented by the Defence Minister Ante Kotromanović, who expressed gratitude to the members of the Battalion for their contribution to Croatia’s freedom and their valour and resoluteness demonstrated during the Homeland War. The Minister also reminded that the Battalion actually operated as brigade, in terms of the manpower and the tasks fulfilled. 
Along with the Defence Minister, the ceremony was attended by the Minister of the Croatian Homeland War Veterans Predrag Matić, the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, General Drago Lovrić and the local government representatives.

Minister Matić stated that the 81st Battalion was the pride of the town of Virovitica and Croatia, and that the number of its fallen members testified to the unit’s arduous history. «Throughout the time you have remained the moral strength of the country».
The congratulation addresses were delivered by the wartime commander of the Battalion, Staff Brigadier Renato Romić (who emphasised that each member of the Battalion had the right to be proud of its history and contribution to Croatia’s freedom), by  the Mayor of Virovitica, Ivica Kirin and by the Prefect of the Virovitica-Podravina County Tomislav Tolušić respectively.
General Ante Gotovina sent a congratulatory letter to the Battalion, stating that it had grown out of the best units of the Croatian Army from the Virovitica zone, and honouring its members’ superb military discipline and devotion as a major contribution to the victory in the Homeland War as the cornerstone of free Croatia. 

The ceremony featured a documentary on the Battalion and its Homeland War history.