Curtis "Bud" Diles, Jr., passed on September 10, 2014, and was one of the Forgotten 500. I wanted to take the opportunity to remember him, all of the Forgotten 500, US OSS Officer George Vujnovich who led Operation Halyard along with Serbian Royalist General Draza Mihailovich, and the Tuskegee Airmen (Red Tails) who flew the Forgotten 500 home. General Mihailovich also served in WWI which began 100 years ago in 1914. #LestWeForget #VeteransDay #RemembranceDay #ArmisticeDay
Mr. Diles' obituary is here.
Curtis "Bud" Diles, Jr., age 89, of Huber Heights, Ohio passed away
Wednesday, September 10 at Miami Valley Hospital after a long
illness. He was born July 15, 1925 in New Boston, a son of the late
Curtis and Lena Belford Diles, Sr.
He is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Inez L. Pruitt Diles, whom he married in Portsmouth Sept. 25, 1948; children Dennis (Bev) Diles of Chaska, Minnesota, Teresa (Jack) Guidry, Janis “Diane” (Chuck) Hammond, and Tamara (John) Meese, all of Huber Heights; 15 grandchildren; and 7 great grandchildren. He is also survived by sisters Sonja (Bill) Rice of Reynoldsburg, Deloris Walker of Minford; and brothers Paul (Sarah) of Sarasota, Florida, and Alva "Sonny" (Jean) of Chillicothe; and many nieces and nephews.
He was a devoted, loving, and generous husband, father, and grandfather. His greatest treasure was his family. He delighted in sharing his great wisdom and always had an idea to improve things. He never stopped analyzing and believed that an idle mind was the devil’s workshop. He was “Mr. Fix It” and was an exemplary machinist. No doubt, he is tinkering in heaven at this moment.
He was a dedicated member of the First Christian Church of Huber Heights. Although he often struggled to understand the message due to his hearing impairment, he faithfully attended “just to show whose side he was on”. As he was ushered into heaven into the loving arms of Jesus, we know exactly which side he’s on.
He was also a member of the VFW Post 3283, and an honorary Serbian. He was a veteran of World War II, a Staff Sergeant serving in the Army Air Corps from 1943-1945. He was shot down while in his B-24 bomber behind enemy lines over Belgrade Yugoslavia on September 8, 1944 in the Halyard Mission, but was rescued by the Serbian Chetniks lead by General Draja Mihailovich. Had it not been for Serbia, he and his descendants would not have been blessed with the gift of life. The details of this incredible rescue are documented in the book “The Forgotten 500”, by Gregory Freeman. It was his life’s mission to spread the truth to the world about the Serbians’ loyalty to America in WWII. For his service, Curt received the EAME Theater Ribbon with 1 silver star, the Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart, and the Good Conduct Medal. The country of Serbia also recently presented him with the Order of Karageorge's Star with Sword for 70 years of exceptional service in spreading the truth about Serbia and its WWII and post-war struggles.
After graduating from Portsmouth High School, he briefly worked at Wolford Machine Company in Portsmouth prior to being drafted into the service. After the war, he returned to Wolford’s and also worked at Empire Detroit Steel Corporation in New Boston. In 1974 he moved to Huber Heights where he managed the machine shop at Techmet/LaserMike, from which he retired in 1989.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sisters Doris Diles, Edna Stiltner, Lorraine Traber, Carolyn (Sue) Potts; and brothers Don, Jimmy, and Travis Diles.
Funeral services will be held at 1 pm Monday at the Ralph F. Scott Funeral Home in Portsmouth with Pastor David McClary officiating and interment in Memorial Burial Park. Military graveside rites will be conducted by the James Dickey Post #23 American Legion Honor Detail.
In honor of Mr. Diles' service to our country, the flag of the US Air Force will fly at the funeral home, and the flag of Serbia will be displayed.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home Sunday from 2 to 4 pm, and one hour prior to services Monday.
Online condolences may be shared at www.RalphFScott.com.
In lieu of flowers, please honor Dad’s last request: “Google My Name”. He will look down from Heaven and say “thanks”.
My friend Obrad Kesic spoke at Mr. Diles' funeral.
(2) For more information about Mr. Diles and his fellow heroes, please read The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
(New American Library, August 2007)
By Gregory A. Freeman
One of the last untold stories of World War II is also one of the greatest - a story of adventure, daring, danger and heroics, followed by a web of conspiracy, lies, and coverup.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 is one of the greatest rescue and escape stories ever, but hardly anyone has heard about it. And that's by design. The U.S., British, and Yugoslav governments hid details of this story for decades, purposefully denying credit to the heroic rescuers and the foreign ally who gave his life to help allied airmen as they were hunted down by Nazis in the hills of Yugoslavia.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 tells the story of Operation Halyard in 1944, the largest rescue ever of downed American airmen. More than 500 U.S. airmen were rescued, along with some from other countries, all right under the noses of the Germans, and mostly in broad daylight. The mission was a complete success - the kind that should have been trumpeted in news reels and on the front page. (By comparison, the famed escape of allied prisoners from a German POW camp portrayed in the movie "The Great Escape" involved 200 men, and only 76 were successful.)
It is a little known episode that started with one edge-of-your seat rescue in August 1944, followed by a series of additional rescues in the following months. American agents from the OSS, the precursor of the CIA, worked with a Serbian guerilla, General Draza Mihailovich, to carry out the huge, ultra-secret rescue mission.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 weaves together the tales of a dozen young airmen shot down in the hills of Yugoslavia during bombing runs, and the five secret agents who conducted their amazing rescue. These are the stories of young men who were eager to join the war and fight the Germans, even finding excitement in the often deadly trips from Italy to bomb German oil fields in Romania, but who found themselves parachuting out of crippled planes and into the arms of strange, rough looking villagers in a country they knew nothing about. They soon found out that the local Serbs were willing to sacrifice their own lives to keep the downed airmen out of German hands, but they still wondered if anyone was coming for them or if they would spend the rest of the war hiding from German patrols and barely surviving on goat's milk and bread made with hay to make it more filling.
When OSS agents in Italy heard of the stranded airmen, they began planning an elaborate and previously unheard of rescue - the Americans would send in a fleet of C-47 cargo planes to land in the hills of Yugoslavia, behind enemy lines, to pluck out hundreds of airmen. It was audacious and risky beyond belief, but there was no other way to get those boys out of German territory. The list of challenges and potential problems seemed never ending: the airmen had to evade capture until the rescue could be organized, they had to build an airstrip large enough for C-47s without any tools and without the Germans finding out, and then the planes had to make it in and out without being shot down.
Could it really be done? No one knew, but they were going to try.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 takes the reader along on this suspenseful adventure, while also explaining how the Yugoslav guerilla fighter who made it all possible was betrayed by his western allies. THE FORGOTTEN 500 is the story of young men struggling to make it back home to their families, and their decades-long quest to acknowledge the secret agents and the foreign soldiers who risked all for them.
Long silenced by the governments of several nations, the full story of Operation Halyard and the young men who risked everything for their fellow soldiers is revealed for the first time in this book.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 is truly the greatest World War II story never told.
Praise for the Forgotten 500
Back To Top "The daring rescue effort to save hundreds of downed airmen in dangerous enemy territory is an amazing but unknown WWII adventure story. Told in riveting detail for the first time, The Forgotten 500 a tale of unsung heroes who went above and beyond."-- James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers
"Greg Freeman has written a riveting account of the greatest escape during World War II. It is a remarkable adventure story of courage and daring that is superbly told."
-- Anthony C. Zinni, General USMC (Retired)
"Freeman's The Forgotten 500 is a literary and journalistic achievement of the highest order, a book that illuminates, thrills, and reminds us that heroes sometimes do live among us. It will take your breath away."
-- Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in America's Richest Mining Town
"This is an exciting, powerful story of escape and rescue. It has been buried for too long..."
-- Tony Koltz, New York Times bestselling author, The Battle for Peace
Greg Freeman's The Forgotten 500 is a gripping, true-life narrative of one of the most heroic and inspiringâ€"but virtually unknownâ€"military operations of World War II. Operation Halyard, the rescue of 500 Allied airmen from behind Nazi lines in Yugoslavia, was an epic victory, and Freeman chronicles it with a master's touch for detail. Although this book reads like a fast-paced novel, it is based on scores of probing interviews and meticulous archival research. The Forgotten 500 is destined to become required reading for serious students of the Second World War."
-- Malcolm McConnell, New York Times #1 bestselling coauthor of American Soldier
(3) 66 years after Mr. Diles and his fellow Forgotten 500 were flown home by the Red Tails, Army OSS Officer George Vujnovich received the Bronze Star in October 2010 for leading Operation Halyard.
My FaceBook photo album has photos of Mr. Vujnovich receiving the Bronze Star.
NBC New York had an excellent report on Mr. Vujnovich titled "The Spy Next Door Was Ours".
(4) For more information on the Tuskegee Airmen, please visit this link on the RedTail website.
Are you aware of the role of the Tuskegee Airmen and one of the greatest rescue and escape stories ever, but hardly anyone has heard about it?
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War I
(New American Library, August 2007) By Gregory A. Freeman
One of the last untold stories of World War II is also one of the greatest – a story of adventure, daring, danger and heroics, followed by a web of conspiracy, lies, and coverup.THE FORGOTTEN 500 is one of the greatest rescue and escape stories ever, but hardly anyone has heard about it. And that’s by design. The U.S., British, and Yugoslav governments hid details of this story for decades, purposefully denying credit to the heroic rescuers and the foreign ally who gave his life to help allied airmen as they were hunted down by Nazis in the hills of Yugoslavia.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 tells the story of Operation Halyard in 1944, the largest rescue ever of downed American airmen. More than 500 U.S. airmen were rescued, along with some from other countries, all right under the noses of the Germans, and mostly in broad daylight. The mission was a complete success – the kind that should have been trumpeted in news reels and on the front page. (By comparison, the famed escape of allied prisoners from a German POW camp portrayed in the movie “The Great Escape” involved 200 men, and only 76 were successful.)
It is a little known episode that started with one edge-of-your seat rescue in August 1944, followed by a series of additional rescues in the following months. American agents from the OSS, the precursor of the CIA, worked with a Serbian guerilla, General Draza Mihailovich, to carry out the huge, ultra-secret rescue mission.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 weaves together the tales of a dozen young airmen shot down in the hills of Yugoslavia during bombing runs, and the five secret agents who conducted their amazing rescue. These are the stories of young men who were eager to join the war and fight the Germans, even finding excitement in the often deadly trips from Italy to bomb German oil fields in Romania, but who found themselves parachuting out of crippled planes and into the arms of strange, rough looking villagers in a country they knew nothing about. They soon found out that the local Serbs were willing to sacrifice their own lives to keep the downed airmen out of German hands, but they still wondered if anyone was coming for them or if they would spend the rest of the war hiding from German patrols and barely surviving on goat’s milk and bread made with hay to make it more filling.
When OSS agents in Italy heard of the stranded airmen, they began planning an elaborate and previously unheard of rescue – the Americans would send in a fleet of C-47 cargo planes to land in the hills of Yugoslavia, behind enemy lines, to pluck out hundreds of airmen. It was audacious and risky beyond belief, but there was no other way to get those boys out of German territory. The list of challenges and potential problems seemed never ending: the airmen had to evade capture until the rescue could be organized, they had to build an airstrip large enough for C-47s without any tools and without the Germans finding out, and then the planes had to make it in and out without being shot down.
Could it really be done? No one knew, but they were going to try.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 takes the reader along on this suspenseful adventure, while also explaining how the Yugoslav guerilla fighter who made it all possible was betrayed by his western allies. THE FORGOTTEN 500 is the story of young men struggling to make it back home to their families, and their decades-long quest to acknowledge the secret agents and the foreign soldiers who risked all for them.
Long silenced by the governments of several nations, the full story of Operation Halyard and the young men who risked everything for their fellow soldiers is revealed for the first time in this book.
Some photos of the Red Tails and other veterans from the 2010 NYC Veterans Day parade are in this FaceBook photo album.
(5) US President Harry Truman awarded the Legion of Merit to General Mihailovich on March 29, 1948. Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan also honored General Mihailovich.
For more information about General Mihailovich, please visit http://www.generalmihailovich.com/ hosted and written by Aleksandra Rebic who lives in Chicago. Her father Rade served General Mihailovich. Aleksandra and Rade Rebic wrote “Dragoljub-Draza Mihailovich i Drugi Svetski Rat: Istorija Jedne Velike Izdaje” (“Dragoljub-Draza Mihailovich and the Second World War: History of a Great Betrayal”).
General Mihailovich also served in WWI which began 100 years ago in 1914. The Tower of London has an incredible art exhibit titled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red". This is a Remembrance Day Poem.
