24.08.2017.
Aleksandar Berić is the path and trace we can follow
Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin has unveiled today a memorial bust to Aleksandar Berić and laid a wreath on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, at the Tisa quay in Novi Bečej. The minister unveiled the bust with Mr. Saša Maksimović, the President of the Municipality of Novi Bečej.
According to Minister Vulin, the Serbs are prone to forget their history and are inclined to think that if they are silent, others will talk about their history instead of them.
- Our history has usually been rewritten, with an attempt to make it smaller than it was and trying to prove that our role in history was neither famous nor great. Our history is both famous and great and monuments like this one are here only to remind us of that. The trail left by Lieutenant Berić, the trail left by the crew of the Drava is the trace we are following today. From Obilić, through Sinđelić to Berić, all the way to Major Tepić, the Serbs have always had, in every great war that they did not ask for, which was imposed on them, but which they had always waged, at least one person who was able to be the bearer of the courage of our people, who was able to put himself in front of the interests of the people, who was brave enough to leave a message that would last for decades. It was not so much time since the Second World War that we would allow the memory to be mixed up and the executioner to become a victim, and the victim to become an executioner, and the hero to become a coward and the coward to become a hero. Aleksandar Berić is the path and trace we can follow, the Minister of Defence said.
The president of Novi Bečej Municipality said that Aleksandar Berić and the bust that was discovered today should remind us who we are and what we are and remind us of our famous history that must not be forgotten.
Lieutenant Dragan Spasojević from the River Fleet spoke about Aleksandar Berić, saying that Berić as a naval officer acted according to the unwritten seamen rule "that the captain sinks with his ship".
Aleksandar Berić was Lieutenant Commander of the Royal Navy, who had been resisting the attacks of German patrol boats, troops at the shore and aviation, for six days during the April war, serving as commander of the Drava monitor. Offering resistance to hostile forces, Lieutenant Commander Berić died at Čelarevo and sank with his ship on 12th April 1941.
The unveilingof the memorial bust was held within the traditional Novi Bečej celebration of the Dormition Days "Our Lady 2017", attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Serbian Armed Forces, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Municipality of Novi Bečej and numerous citizens.
