Vujnovich, George

Mr. George Vujnovich

1933 graduate

Mr. George Vujnovich was born to Serbian parents in 1915. When he was 14, he moved to Aliquippa and two years later to Ambridge. After graduating from high school, he worked at a Heinz vinegar plant for $1 a day. In 1934 he received a scholarship from the Serb National Federation and left home to attend college to study medicine in Belgrade. While living in Belgrade, Mr. Vujnovich met and married his wife, Mirjana, a teacher. Their life was disrupted in 1941, when the German Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade in Operation Punishment. Mr. Vujnovich was a first-hand witness to the bombing, nearly losing his life when a falling bomb destroyed a nearby streetcar. After the bombing, Mr. and Mrs. Vujnovich fled Yugoslavia, and he accepted a job in Ghana as assistant airport manager while Mirjana moved to Washington, DC to work at the Yugoslav Embassy. When the US entered the war, Mr. Vujnovich received a commission as a second lieutenant and assumed command of an airbase in Nigeria. While working at the airbase, he was recruited by the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the forerunner of the CIA, and was later sent to the OSS post in Bari, Italy. From this post he saved the lives of his fellow servicemen and earned the title of hero. Due to his organization of this secret mission known as “Operation Halyard”, over 500 downed US airmen in occupied Yugoslavia were rescued. In 2007 “The Forgotten 500”, the first book about the daring mission, was released. Mr. George Vujnovich is the lead character in the book.