“We are standing here before this wounded memorial, proud of them and their courage. Shame on cowards, deserters, lovers of the red star who spit on HOS. All defenders were ‘for the homeland ready’ in the Homeland War, that salute is not an expression of hate but of love for one’s home and Croat people,” said the battalion’s wartime commander, Marko Skejo.
Split-Dalmatia County Assembly president Mate Šimundić said HOS members “were ready for the homeland back then, as they are today”, and that he, as a representative of the state authorities, paid tribute to them.
A state that questions such a thing questions its own survival, he said.
A former HOS general and member of parliament from the Homeland Movement, Ante Prkačin, recalled that 10 April was yet another anniversary, the 81st anniversary of the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), wondering if they were not allowed to talk about it.
HOS was the armed wing of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) fighting in Croatia’s 1991-95 war of independence and “For the homeland ready” was the salute used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime of WWII Independent State of Croatia.
According to Wikipedia, the HOS 9th Battalion “Rafael vitez Boban” was named after the Ustasha colonel and general of the World War II Croatian Armed Forces (HOS).
The battalion was active in Dalmatia and other parts of Croatia as well as in Herzegovina and it lost 46 members in the Homeland War.
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