The 23rd anniversary of the fall of Vukovar commemorated

The respects to Vukovar, its defenders and victims were paid by large numbers of visitors from throughout Croatia and abroad. The official commemoration programme began as usually in the Vukovar Hospital courtyard, attended by the President of the Republic, Ivo Josipović, the Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović and the delegation of the Croatian Parliament. Croatian Ministry of Defence was represented by the Deputy Minister, Višnja Tafra, and the Armed Forces by the Chief of the General Staff , General Drago Lovrić. Also, the Navy Vocal Ensemble “Sveti Juraj“ performed a musical programme  to honour the occasion.
The anniversary was marked by the traditional march of tens of thousands of people along the route from the Vukovar Hospital towards the Memorial Cemetery of the Victims of the Homeland War in Vukovar; where the mass was served by the bishop of Dubrovnik, Mons. Mate Uzinić, for the fallen and missing residents of Vukovar and all defenders. The wreaths were laid and candles burned on the graves of the fallen defenders and at the central cross of the cemetery, and the State and Government delegations laid the wreaths at the Ovčara Memorial Site. 

The heroic Battle for Vukovar began on 25 August 1991 and ended three months later, on 18 November, when the town, defended by some 1800 members of the Croatian National Guard and the police and the volunteers of the Croatian Defence Forces (all members of the legendary 204th Vukovar Brigade), was seized by the JNA and the Serbian paramilitary.
Pursuant to the Decision by the Croatian Parliament of 1999, 18 November is marked as the Vukovar Memorial Day .