The defenders of Vukovar gathered in the morning hours along with the families of the killed, missing and captured and deported defenders, under the motto \u201cThe heroes of the Battle for Vukovar and for Croatia\u201c, marched towards the courtyard of the County Hospital to attend the ceremonial programme, which was attended by the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi\u0107, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament\u00a0 Bo\u017eo Petrov and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovi\u0107.
The delegation of the Ministry of Defence was headed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Damir Krsti\u010devi\u0107, and the General Staff delegation was headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, General Mirko \u0160undov.<\/p>\n
The traditional\u00a0 ceremonial programme commenced at 10 a.m, with the performance of the Croatian Navy’s Vocal Ensemble “Sveti Juraj” , and a recital by the actor Darko Milas and the defender of Vukovar Branko \u010culi\u0107-Vukovarac.
The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Bo\u017eo Petrov said: \u201cWe must not and will never forget 18 November; we also must provide non-conditional assistance and support to the people and the town who went through the siege by the aggressor to help them heal the wounds\u201c.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovi\u0107 stated that the 25th anniversary of the occupation of Vukovar and the Vukovar Memorial Day were an occasion to extend deepest respect and gratitude to the Croatian defenders and all those sacrifying their live for Croatia and to keep the memory of them. \u201cThe unity seen in Vukovar today should be a future motive for us\u201c.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having observed the minute of silence for all fallen and missing persons from the Homeland War the traditional memorial column marched from the hospital of Vukovar to the Memorial Cemetery of the Victims of the Homeland War, led by the defenders of Vukovar and family members of the victimes. The delegations laid wreaths and lighted candles on the graves of the defenders and at the Central cross.
At the Memorial cemetery Cardinal Josip Bozani\u0107 served the mass for the fallen and missing residents of Vukovarand for the participants of the Homeland War. \u201cA great number of people from all over Croatia have gathered in Vukovar today; overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions, as each of us feels pain and pride\u201c, said Cardinal Bozani\u0107 in his homily.
In the afternoon lamps were laid onto the Danube river, symbollising the \u201cmemorial river of lights\u201c, in tribute to the killed and missing defenders.
The Battle for Vukovar commenced on 25 August\u00a0 1991, and ended on 18 November 1991, with the collapse of the defence of the town, consisting of some 1800 members of the Croatian National Guard, the police and the volunteers of the Croatian Defence Forces organised in the legendary 204th Vukovar Brigade. Pursuant to the Decision of the Croatian Parliament of 1999 the day has been commemorated as the Vukovar Memorial Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n[nggallery id=2190]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 25th anniversary of the occupation of the heroic town of Vukovar was observed on 18 November\u00a0 2016, by some 100,000 visitors coming from throughout Croatia and from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4698,"featured_media":35996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n