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 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 others were responsible for the safe evacuation of the 500 MIA airmen and many more from across the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In all, there were more than 2,000 airmen of all nationalities that were saved. Devyak was friends with Nick Lalich, another OSS officer.

Mike Devyak died on 27 June 2005 and was buried at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville, Indiana.