Home         Events        Enlistment

Living History Group

CROATIAN FORCES

Testimonial

---

                                                                                                                                                                    'Depicting scenes from history is a delicate matter, particularly if the

                                                                                                                                                                    events being presented are still within living memory. The war which

                                                                                                                                                                    ripped apart Yugoslavia and dominated news broadcasts in the 1990s

                                                                                                                                                                    is a case in point. The period is now the subject of interpretation by a

                                                                                                                                                                    living history group which shows how the lives of the men and women

                                                                                                                                                                    involved in this conflict were affected.

                                                                                                                                                                    There is no other group in my opinion which is better qualified

                                                                                                                                                                    to depict this politically sensitive period than the Croatian Forces

                                                                                                                                                                    Living History Group, some members of which saw service in the

                                                                                                                                                                    bloody war which set neighbours against one another. We have to

                                                                                                                                                                    accept that more recent history has to be told as much as the older

                                                                                                                                                                    periods and in the case of this conflict it is done exceptionally well

                                                                                                                                                                    and with due reverence, which can only be achieved by those who

                                                                                                                                                                    were there and understand events from the inside. For anyone to doubt

                                                                                                                                                                    the veracity of this they should ask themselves 'how would I have

                                                                                                                                                                    conducted myself ?'

                                                                                                                                                                    Veterans of the Vietnam War now accept living history and so it is with

                                                                                                                                                                    the war from Croatia. The war which happened in the region formerly

                                                                                                                                                                    known as Yugoslavia may not be to everyone's taste, but it is a

                                                                                                                                                                    historical fact and the Croatian Forces Living History Group portray

                                                                                                                                                                    it sympathetically and with good grace, because some members

                                                                                                                                                                    of the group know from first hand experience and this comes

                                                                                                                                                                    across at displays without any need to boast or glorify the fact

                                                                                                                                                                    through such interpretation and presentations that future generations will

                                                                                                                                                                    remember what occurred and try to make sense of a conflict which all

                                                                                                                                                                    but destroyed a once stable country known as Yugoslavia'.