Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. John Cappello will speak Aug. 30 at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Library, and Aug. 31 at the Parma Library about the Halyard Mission. The little known Halyard Mission involved Serbian villagers helping downed U.S. and allied forces pilots during World War II.
, but retired U.S. Air Force Lt. John Cappello is, and he is on his own mission to inform as many people as possible as to what took place between August and December, 1944.
“The reason why so many airmen were stuck behind enemy lines is, when the allies established bases in southern Italy during the second World War, we used those bases to bomb targets in southeast Europe,” said Cappella in a phone interview from Washington, D.C. “Some of the most important targets were the Ploeisti oil fields in Romania. If you take a look at the route of flight from Italy to Romania, you see that it takes you, in essence, right over Serbia.
Cappello said there were two airfields in Serbia from which rescued airmen were flown to Italy, and one in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. “I spoke with at least 10 of the airmen and every one of them became quite emotional when they told us these stories of how they were treated.” Cappello said that in 2007, he had the opportunity to visit the small air field west of the Serbian city of Cacak, and envisioned that he might see a villager or two and a potato field. Instead, he was greeted by about 50 people and saw American and Serbian flags.
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