War breaks into people's lives unexpectedly. Both adults and children suffer from it. The latter, as a rule, become victims or refugees, but few of the guys are brought to become heroes and fight side by side with adults. Sometimes, in order to protect what is dear to a young soul, you need to endure many tests and prove your usefulness.
One of these young warriors was Spomenko Gostich, who fought on the side of the Bosnian Serbs. He did not live to see his 15th birthday - he died 25 years ago, on March 20, 1993. But this short life contained a lot of grief and dangers.
Spomenko Gostich was born in the village of Doboj (in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina) on August 14, 1978. This village is known for its active partisan movement during the Second World War. Perhaps the place of birth was not accidental, and the very history of his small homeland predetermined the character of the boy. He went to school in the city of Maglai. Lost his father early.
Then there was a united Yugoslavia, and no one could have thought that the collapse of the socialist camp would happen, after which the world predators would have to tear the Balkan country to pieces. How and why the war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be discussed for a long time. But here - not about that, but about a specific young hero.
In 1992, the life of all Yugoslavs, including the Spomenko family, changed dramatically. The boy was forced to leave school. Together with his mother, he moved to the village of Jovici near the town of Ozren. His grandmother lived there.
Unable to withstand the hardships of the war, the mother passed away shortly after the outbreak of hostilities. It happened in April 1992. In the conditions of the siege, they could not find the necessary medicine for her. In September of the same year, Bosnian Muslims fired mortars at the village. As a result of this crime, Spomenko's grandmother died. The teenager was left all alone.
He joined the Bosnian Serb army. And he had a desire - to fight and avenge his relatives. At first, the fighters did not want to accept him. On the one hand, they understood that the boy had no one left. On the other hand, adult fighters usually say to such desperate guys, "You're too young."
But Spomenko insisted on his own: if he is not allowed to fight, then he wants to help the soldiers. The boy loved horses. Knowing how to handle them has proven to be very useful. Having procured a cart, he took the soldiers to the forefront of food and water. At the same time, they often had to overcome dangers and come under fire. Once, during one such trip, the boy, along with a cart and horses, got into a mined area. One of the horses ran into a mine. An explosion thundered. Spomenko was wounded. (Moreover, this was his second wound).
Serbian photographer Tomislav Peternek arrived at the position that day. Seeing a young soldier there, I decided to photograph him. “You will now go down in history,” the fighters joked at the boy. He replied: Why the hell do I need a story? The main thing is that I stayed alive today."
Several times the teenager tried to offer options for evacuation. He said one thing: "I am not a deserter." Once Spomenko became the hero of a reportage shown on television. This plot was seen by the Serb Predrag Simikic-Pegan, who lived in France. He fired up the idea: to adopt a boy.
Especially from Paris, this man came to Ozren on a humanitarian mission. There he found Spomenko and offered to go with him to France. The boy was very moved by such kindness. And he said that he, in principle, agreed, but only after the war.“I will not leave the village and will not leave my comrades-in-arms,” he added.
In March 1993, during the battle for the town of Ozren, Spomenko remained to defend his village Jovici. Once the Muslims have subjected this settlement to shelling. Five soldiers of the Bosnian Serb army were killed, and Spomenko was mortally wounded. On March 20, his short life was interrupted. He was awarded the Medal for Services to the People. Posthumously. “Our Bosko Bukha died,” the soldiers said about him with bitterness, remembering another young hero who fought during the Second World War.
Spomenko was buried in the cemetery in Jovici. After the end of the war, Bosnia, as you know, was divided into two parts - Muslim-Croatian and Serbian. The village of Jovici came under the control of the Bosnian Muslims. Moreover, there is a real nest of the Wahhabis.
In 2011, the leader of the Military Organization of the Republika Srpska Pantelia Churguz set out to rescue Spomenko's remains and reburial in Serb territory. But this was never done.
In 2014, on the 21st anniversary of the boy's death, a monument was unveiled in his native Doboje (which is located in the Republika Srpska). And in 2016, one of the streets in the Serbian city of Vysehrad was named after him. In addition, in Voronezh, the public organization "Russian-Serbian Dialogue" proposed to name one of the streets in honor of Spomenko Gostich.
There is a song about a young fighter in his homeland. Recently, the Serbian director Mile Savic, with the support of the authorities of the Republika Srpska, shot a documentary about him "Spomenko on Eternal Guard", which was shown, among other things, in Russia.
