BANJA LUKA, July 14 \/SRNA\/ \u2013 The Director of the Memorial Center of the Republic of Srpska, Denis Boji\u0107, has been awarded the Predrag Pe\u0111a Leovac Order of Honor for \u201cpreserving the dignity and Serbian heritage\u201d and for fostering the memory of heroes and comrades-in-arms.<\/p>\n
The order was presented to Boji\u0107 by the President of the Academy of Serbian Knights, Novica Todosijevi\u0107, the Memorial Center announced.<\/p>\n
Boji\u0107 emphasized that this recognition represents the highest possible honor for him, but also a duty to live every moment of his life worthy of the name of the Serbian knight Leovac.<\/p>\n
Predrag Pe\u0111a Leovac was a second lieutenant and one of the greatest heroes of Ko\u0161are, who gave his life while leading his soldiers in an attempt to retake the peak of Maja Glava. He was the commander of the intervention platoon of the 53rd Border Battalion of the Pri\u0161tina Corps and defended the border from the aggressor.<\/p>\n
He was wounded in 1998 on St. Petka\u2019s Day when a mine fragment passed through his lower jaw. Border guards brought a bloody piece of paper from the site to the commander of the 53rd Border Battalion, then Captain Du\u0161ko \u0160ljivan\u010danin, on which the wounded Pe\u0111a drew a minefield layout with a message to clear the field and prevent further casualties among soldiers.<\/p>\n
The fragment caused severe injuries, but fortunately did not damage his speech or hearing. He was operated on at the Military Medical Academy (VMA), and after seven days of treatment, he left the hospital independently. He could eat only through a straw.<\/p>\n
In the clashes with the aggressor in the Ko\u0161are outpost area on April 14, just a few steps from completing the mission, Leovac was fatally hit by a sniper.<\/p>\n
\u201cVidovdan Serbian Knights\u201d is a prestigious national non-governmental organization that has operated in Serbia for 18 years to ensure that Serbian heroes from all wars are not forgotten and to foster a culture of remembrance of their deeds, the Memorial Center of the Republic of Srpska stated.<\/p>\n
In the Republic of Srpska, on the occasion of Vidovdan, the \u201cAcademy of Vidovdan Serbian Knights\u201d was held for the third time.<\/p>\n
The Memorial Center added that members of the Vidovdan Serbian Knights are participants in the Defensive and Homeland Wars of the 1990s and the war in Kosovo and Metohija in 1998\/99.<\/p>\n