Draft:Michael Devyak

Michael "Mike" Devyak (Blanford, Indiana, United States, 29 August 1924 - Crown Point, Indiana, United States, 27 June 2005) was a Serbian American wireless operator on a mission in Yugoslavia  with Office of Strategic Services responsible for the airlift rescue of more than 500 U.S. and Allied MIAs in the Operation Halyard, declassified 53 years later in 1997.

Biography

Michael Devyak was born in 1924 in Blanford, Indiana, to Serbian parents from Bosnia, Joe Devyak  Sr. (1883-1965) and Smilja (nee Strbac) Devyak (1890-1969). They had six children, Mike being the youngest.  Mike Devyak before the war worked in machining and after the war returned to the same Gary works machine shop from which he retired years later.

Devyak was a member of the Robert H. McDowell Mission (code name: "Ranger") to  General Dragoljub Mihailovich whose loyal Chetnik fighters saved hundreds of U.S. and Allied airmen after their planes were shot down over Serbia while trying to fly back to their base in Bari, Italy after bombing the Ploesti oil fields. McDowell's "Ranger" team, arrived with five men: Colonel Robert H. McDowell; Captain John Milodragovich; Captain Ellsworth R. Kramer; Sargeant Michael Rajacich who had served in the Chetnik territory with Milodragovich for two months; and Michael Devyak who was responsible for radio links . McDowell's team and other OSS initiatives with Serbian American operatives were responsible for a single and safe evacuation of more than 500 MIA airmen and many more airlifts from across the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In all, there were more than 2,000 airmen of all nationalities that were MIAs in wartime Yugoslavia, all saved by Serbs.

After the war, Mike Devyak joined Nick Lalich and many other OSS operatives and former airmen saved by the Serbian Chetniks to campaign for a fair trial for General Mihailovich who was accused by Tito's communist for allegedly collaborating with the enemy.

Mike Devyak died on 27 June 2005 and was buried at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville, Indiana. He was active in the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church.