Farewell to a War Commander: 'You Were Our Eyes on the Battlefield'
Ratko Dragović Klek has published an emotional in memoriam for Jadranko Olujić-Oluja, the reconnaissance commander of the 15th MPOAD, who passed away in 2026.
Ratko Dragović Klek has published an emotional in memoriam for Jadranko Olujić-Oluja, the reconnaissance commander of the 15th MPOAD, who passed away in 2026.
Ratko Dragović Klek, his brother-in-arms and a Tiger, published a farewell to Jadranko Olujić-Oluja, a Croatian defender, officer, and wartime reconnaissance commander of the 15th MPOAD, on his Facebook page. The in memoriam was shared by the portal Križevci.info on Sunday, August 16, 2026.
In an emotional post, Dragović Klek described Oluja as a man you could trust when things were toughest. "You were brave, decisive, and reliable. A man you could trust when things were toughest," he wrote in the text, which was shared with the author's permission.
Dragović Klek specifically recalled December 10, 1991, when their wartime paths intertwined more deeply on the Novska battlefield, after Stari Grabovac. That day remains etched as one of the hardest in their wartime journey.
At Čardak, Oluja lost nearly his entire reconnaissance unit. Ivan Jukić, Juks, Ivan Kordiš, Indijanac, Zrinko Živičnjak, Tomica Šušnjić, Živko Antolić, and Dražen Jačmenjak were killed. In the same ambush, four Tigers also lost their lives: Siniša Kraljić, Miro Marić, Ivica Šoštarić, and Mladen Jurišić.
"And you survived. Seriously wounded, together with Bruno Keleković and one Tiger, Hinza, you managed to escape the hell of Čardak," wrote Dragović Klek, adding that a man who survives such a day is never the same again.
As the reconnaissance commander of the 15th MPOAD, Oluja and his men were "our eyes on the battlefield," writes Dragović Klek. While the Tigers advanced on the ground, his men located enemy positions and directed artillery fire.
"Jadranko, my dear Oluja, when we went to war, we didn't go for recognition, medals, or gratitude. We went because Croatia was attacked," Dragović Klek conveyed in his farewell.
At the end of the emotional text, the author wrote: "Rest in peace, my brother-in-arms. Farewell, brother-in-arms. We'll meet again, somewhere where there is no war, no pain, and no partings."
