Joe T. Milloy
1913-2002
Joe T. Milloy was born Zivko T. Milojkovic on August 24, 1913 in the Kingdom of Serbia. For his service to the United States in World War II, he was made a U.S. citizen by an act of Congress in 1947.
Having already earned a law degree in Yugoslavia before the war, Joe earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1950. From there, Joe went to to serve as a CIA spymaster, an Air Force pilot during the Korean War, and combat intelligence officer during the Vietnam War. At age 56 Joe volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam.
After retiring from the military, Joe worked in FBI counterintelligence. He died on April 2, 2002 and is buried along with his wife of 62 years, Tatyana (1917-2009), in Arlington National Cemetery. This is his story.
Joe’s parents, Anna and Thomas, were married in 1912. He was 32 years old. She was 21.
Joe was their first child, born on August 24, 1913. Below is the earliest known picture of Joe, taken sometime in 1914 with a grandmother named Genovive.
About the time of the photo above, World War I erupted. Joe’s father was an artillery sergeant in the Serbian army. At some point during the war, Joe’s father lost both legs in combat against the Austro-Hungarian army. Thomas was evacuated by the French fleet from the Albanian coast and convalesced under French care, wither on a hospital ship or in France. Below is a postcard from Joe’s father to Ana during his convalescence in 1917.
This is Joe, age 3, circa 1916.
Below is Joe with his mother Ana in 1917. Joe said of Ana that “she always meant business” and “seldom repeated the same thing twice.”
Not much is known about Joe’s childhood. Joe said that he and his friends would find and explode unexploded artillery rounds in post-World War I Belgrade. He also said he cared for his double-amputee father, Thomas, when he repatriated to Serbia after the war. Joe’s father died sometime prior to World War II.
Joe entered the Serbian Military Academy (below, date of photo unknown) after graduation from high school in 1931 or 1932.
Joe graduated from the military academy in 1935 and went on to aviations school and law school at the University of Belgrade. Joe said he wasn’t supposed to be going to flight school and law school simultaneously, but he did anyway. Before the World War II broke in Yugoslavia in April 1941, he had earned his pilot’s wings and law degree.
Under pressure from Adolf Hitler, Yugoslavia’s Prince Paul joined the Axis-power Tripartite Pact on March 25, 1941. Opposed to the alliance with Nazi Germany, a group of Royal Yugoslav Air Force officers overthrew Prince Paul and installed King Peter II two days later. [Note: I don’t know whether Joe knew any of the members of the coup at the time, but one of the members, Živan Knežević, was a family friend after the war.] Immediately in response to the coup, Hitler issued Führer Directive 25 for the invasion of Yugoslavia, which began on April 6, 1941.
Yugoslav military forces fought the Nazis and their allies for about 11 days. Although the first phase of the Nazi invasion included Luftwafe attacks on air fields, Joe and other Royal Yugoslav Air Force pilots were able to fly and bomb the invading forces. Joe flew these combat missions in an Italian-made Savoia-Marchetti Sm.79 (below).
By April 10, it was clear that Yugoslavia was doomed and air crews began to escape to the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet Union was aligned with Nazi Germany via the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, the post-coup Yugoslav government had signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression with the Soviet Union on April 5, 1941 (the day before the Nazi Invasion).
Joe was in the final group of eight Savoia-Marchettis to flee to the Soviet Union on April 11, 1941. Of the eight, only four made it to safety. Joe flew his plane alone and landed in a former part of the Soviet Union now known as Moldova. Another of the Savoia-Marchettis who made it to safety was piloted by 1st Lt. Milosh Jelich, the best man at Joe’s wedding.
Below is a photo of a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 that had been flown by a Royal Yugoslav Air Force pilot to the Soviet Union.
Yugoslavia surrendered to the Nazis on April 17, 1941.
Not much is known about the time Joe spent in the Soviet Union. He and the other Yugoslav airmen were probably not exactly imprisoned but they were probably not exactly free either. On one hand, the Soviet Union had signed the Treaty of Friendship with the post-coup Yugoslav government. On the other hand, Stalin was Hitler’s ally and he had an aversion to foreigners mixing freely with the Soviet population. Then on June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and Joe’s fortunes took another turn.
From ArmyAirCorps-3786bg.com:
“Surprised by this escape the Russians brought the [Yugoslav air crews] to Moscow where they spent four months waiting to be allowed to join the Yugoslavian military forces in exile. In August 1941, because of the intervention of the British Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Sir Stafford Cripps, this group of 23 men left the Soviet Union. It took seven long days to reach the Turkish border at Leninakan.
“By this time, there were about 300 Yugoslav Air Force personnel in exile living all over the Middle East. Most of the pilots began flying for the British Royal Air Force.
“In the summer of 1942, King Peter II of Yugoslavia came to the U.S. to seek military and humanitarian aid for his occupied country. He was very warmly received in Washington D.C. and was invited for dinner at the White House. President Roosevelt promised to give four B-24s to the exiled Yugoslav Government to help the resistance fighters in Yugoslavia.
“In Egypt in September 1942, 26 Royal Yugoslav Air Force officers [including Joe] and fourteen enlisted men were selected to go to the U.S. for training. They were active duty and reserve military pilots, navigators, communications personnel, and mechanics.
“This group assembled in Miami Beach for English lessons in November, then went to gunnery school at Ft. Myers in December 1942 and in February of 1943 left Ft. Myers for various training schools. By June they assembled again at Salinas AAF Base in California and then on to Blythe AAF Base in August ’43 where they finished training and received their U.S. Air Force Wings.
“After an Allied conference in Quebec, the Pentagon decided that this special Detachment should return to the Middle East as a Yugoslavian unit operating with the American Air Forces.
“President Roosevelt kept his promise. At a ceremony held at Bolling Field, Washington D.C., on October 6, 1943, President Roosevelt presented four new B-24Js to the assembled Yugoslav flyers. {below is the AP photograph of President Roosevelt presenting the B-24s to the Yugoslav airmen.]
“In his speech President Roosevelt said: ‘ … let these aircraft fulfill their mission under your guidance. They were made for two purposes: one to bomb our common enemy, second to make available to your countrymen necessary material for which they were waiting too long: food, medical supplies, weapons and ammunition. I am sure that you will be successful in this assignment which you have accepted. Do not forget that we shall always be comrades in arms.’
“The following day the four B-24s and their crews left the U.S… On November 8, 1943, the Yugoslav flying personnel were attached to the 376th Bombardment Group, stationed in Enfidaville, Tunisia. After a week of training the Yugoslavs flew their first combat mission on November 15 to strike the Eleusis Airport, Athens. Then on November 24, in their first combat mission from San Pancrazio a Yugoslav crew was shot down by enemy fighters en route to bomb a target at Sofia, Bulgaria. The crew bailed out of the burning B-24, over the part of Yugoslavia occupied by Bulgaria. Within two days they were all caught, mostly by German soldiers and later turned over to Bulgarians. It took several weeks before they were taken to the POW camp at Schumen, Bulgaria, where they met the US survivors of the first raid on Ploesti.”
The B-24 shot downs described above on November 24, 1943 was Joe’s (42-73137 #22). The crew was:
Stanisavljevich, Dragisha M. Y-43 Pilot
Yelich, Millosh M. Y-49 Co-pilot
Milloykovich, Zhivko T. Y-56 Navigator
Vecherina, Dinko N. Y-33 Bombardier
Timothiyevich, Miodrag M. Y-276 Engineer
Halapa, Ivan M. Y-164 Radio
Benderach, Vaso B. Y-229 Gunner
Lakich, Ognyan I. Y-541 Gunner
Korosha, Ivan V. Y-314 Gunner
Cale, George 15078123 Gunner
Here ‘s Joe’s account of this fateful mission:
“November 24,1943 in respect to weather, was a bad day. In San Pancrazio there was light rain and mud. Over the Balkans the skies were very heavy with a partly broken cumulus cloud formation above 25,000 feet. The mission was to bomb the railroad marshalling yard in Sofia, Bulgaria. Halfway to the target we were advised that we could proceed to an alternative target because of the weather conditions. But we stayed on our original course. toward Sofia.
“The formation consisted of several echelons of B-24s and our plane was in the lead echelon. The target was covered by several strata of broken cloud layers. We dropped to 20,000 feet and aimed for the target. The flak was very heavy, but we proceeded. Since the target was not sufficiently visible, the lead plane decided to circle the target and go in for another run. The second echelon being beyond and above us, flew over the target, dropped its bombs and headed back for home. The fighter escort of P-38s, above all of us, observing that the second echelon have dropped bombs, presumed that we were also on our way home. They left the target area too, and headed home. Meanwhile, our echelon made the second run over the target and we released our bombs.
“German ME-109s and Ju-88s were all over the area and began to attack. First, our plane received a direct hit from the ground fire. Flak hit the right wing, close to the nacelle of the #2 engine.
“Then and ME-109 came from behind emptied its guns. Our tail gunner, Sgt. Vasa Benderach, was busy shooting at other enemy fighers. When he turned his turret in the backward position all he saw in his gunsight was a ME-109.
He opened up and the ME-109 went down in flames. (The loss of this ME-109 was confirmed by a Bulgarian officer who, later on, took me in an ambulance to the military hospital in Sofia because of my back injury).
“During this time I was in the nose-turret. The co-pilot Lt. Milosh Jelich called to inform me that two J-88s [(Like those pictured below) were approaching us from the “eleven o’clock” position about 500 to 700 feet.
“I fired several bursts aiming at the leading fighter. He dived and the Lt/ Jelich yelled, “You got him! You got him!” However, they disappeared out of my sight.
“Our plane was full of smoke and smelled of gasoline. Our oxygen system was shut. We were heading home, but we had to drop out of formation and into clouds, losing altitude. The enemy fighters didn’t bother us anymore. After a while the small fires inside the plane died down. A streak of green-orange flame was coming out of the right wing. As we lost altitude, the flame became larger. After about 15 minutes, pilot Capt. Stanisavljevich, realizing that we were not going to make it back to to San Pancrazio, called me and asked for our position and the direction of Greece because in front of us laid unfriendly Albania and its terrain of rugged mountains.
“In the meantime the fire and the heat caused the right tire of the main landing gear to explode causing a bigger flow of gasoline and a larger fire. The right wing began to melt and the pilot pressed the ‘bail-out’ buzzer. Bombardier Capt Vecerina, bailed out through the nose wheel opening. In the rear, gunner Lt Korosha pushed out hesitating gunner Corp. George Cale, and bailed out himself. Gunner Lt. Lackich followed. In the front, I took my B-4 parachute bag (image below).
“I put my gun, some maps, a couple of “C” rations in it and bailed out. Capt Stanisavljevich. was flying the plane manually since the auto-pilot was dead. The rest of the crew placed themselves on the bombway catwalk. Suddenly, the right wing snapped off putting the plane in a spin. The impact threw the rest of the crew into the air and the pilot made his way out fighting all of the “G” forces (he was a weight lifter). The plane engineer, Sgt. Timotijevich, somehow tangled up into the bomb rack. One of his legs was caught and he dangled for a fraction of a second until one of the laces gave up and he was airborn. He subsequently spent his entire time as a prisoner of war with only one shoe.
“As I was descending through the quiet and serene skies – after all of the buzzing and deafening roar of the engines – I noticed hundreds of aluminum pieces floating in circles around me. A thought flashed through my mind: they are sharp and they may cut the cords holding the canopy of my parachute. However, they were dropping faster than I and soon they passed by. I took a look around me to see if anybody else was around and saw no one. I looked down below and saw trees corning fast at me. I hit the ground rather hard and buried my head into some debris. My parachute was tangled in trees. I believe that, I lost conscience for few seconds.
“When I came to, I my mouth was full of leaves and I had a pain in my upper jaw. I got out of the harness with a great difficulty. My back was hurting badly. I looked around for my B-4 bag which I dropped when my parachute opened. With a great pain I sat on a nearby rock and I heard a shot. Something whizzed through the trees. I looked toward a clearing and saw soldiers running toward me. Painfully, I managed to get up. The first soldier to reach me was a very young Bulgarian, holding a rifle with a bayonet on it and his finger on the trigger. He was shaking like a leaf in a breeze.
“All kinds of thoughts passed through my head. In a few seconds several German soldiers arrived and searched me for weapons. They did not ask any questions and I was not in the mood to talk. They ordered me to move. I could not in any event. My back hurt badly and I thought I have broken a few ribs. Two of the German solders grabbed me under arms and half dragged me, half carried me toward a railroad station where the Bulgarian forces had a guard house. It was a small railroad station in Bogumila, Macedonia, at that time occupied by Bulgarian forces. Six of us fallen within a few hundred yards. There was a German military train in the station. They watched the entire show.
The Germans took the pilot, Capt. Stanisavljevic, radio man Sgt. Halepa, and gunner Benderach aboard the train to the next larger town, Prilep, and turned them over to Bulgarians. While aboard the train, German soldiers gave to each one of them a loaf of German military bread. Sgt. Timotijevich, Lt. Lakich and I spent the night in the Bogumila’s guard house. The next day we were taken by train to the prison in Prilep where we joined Capt. Stanisavljevic and the two others. The rest of the crew members were picked up the following day.
“A few days later, we all met in Skoplje, the capital of Macedonia. From there, with our hands tied with telephone wire, we were transported by trucks and rail to a millitary prison in Sofia, Bulgaria. From the moment of our capture until the arrival in Sofia we were boo-ed, cursed and threatened by the local population.
In early January 1944, all of us prisoners, at that time about thirty four, were moved by train to a make-shift prisoner of war (POW) Camp near Schuman, in eastern part of Bulgaria. By September 1944, we numbered about 450 American and few British POWs. We were freed on September 10, 1944 and released to the American Counsul in Istanbul, Turkey.
More coming…