With the words: “Damn it, kids, you won’t die, I will!” Milenko Pavlović pulled his younger colleague out of the cockpit of the MiG-29 and took off alone to defend his homeland.
“Some people live with their parents their entire lives and never receive anything from them in terms of upbringing. I got everything from my father, even though I lived with him for only nine years.”
As he utters these words about his father, the brave pilot Milenko Pavlović, who lost his life on this day in 1999 while defending Serbian airspace from NATO aggressors, his son Nemanja pauses, as if about to cry. But with a calm and dignified tone, he continues speaking about his father—full of pride, as he himself says.
Milenko’s heroic act has become eternal, etched into history as a deed admired not only by us but by all generations to come. With the words: “Damn it, kids, you won’t die, I will!” Pavlović pulled his younger colleague out of the cockpit of the MiG-29 and took off alone to defend his homeland. His aircraft was struck by three NATO missiles—at the very moment he was flying over his hometown.
He was alone against 16 enemy aircraft. He held his ground for a full 12 minutes, and then his colleagues heard just two final words over the radio: “They got me…”
At home, his sons Srđan and Nemanja and his wife Slavica were waiting for him. They knew he had been nervous in those days, that he didn’t want to prolong his goodbyes, but they never imagined that their meeting on May 2, when he last visited them, would be their final one.
For Nemanja, speaking about his father’s last words and last meeting is still difficult today.
“The emotions are too strong. But above all, I am proud—so very proud. Once, when I was speaking with a man from the military about my father, he told me: ‘Be proud. Millions are born, but few have a father like that.’ From his colleagues in aviation, I learned that my father was one of only two fighter regiment commanders in the world to die on a combat mission. The other was Walter Nowotny, who was killed in World War II,” Nemanja tells us.
He remembers that his father taught him to ski at the age of four and that through playful lessons on the ski lift in Kopaonik, he also learned the multiplication table.
“I have memories of skiing with my dad, vacations, lessons… Beautiful memories. He was the best dad and a role model for all of us,” Nemanja says.
With pride, he adds that the family lineage continues. His brother Srđan has two children, Vojin and Maša, making their mother Slavica a proud grandmother.
Nemanja’s father was posthumously awarded the Medal for Bravery. The Serbian Orthodox Church honored his family with the Order of Saint Bishop Nikolaj. A documentary film was made about Milenko Pavlović, a memorial complex was built in his hometown of Gornje Crniljevo, and monuments were erected in Valjevo and Bujačić. The main street in Batajnica bears his name, as does the airbase from which he took off on that fateful day—flying into eternity.
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Source: Telegraf, Foto: Privatna arhiva