Dragoljub Jeličić

Dragoljub Jeličić (; – 1963) was one of the youngest soldiers in the Royal Serbian Army during the First World War.

Biography

The Jeličić family originally lived in Kordun, in present-day Croatia, but emigrated as refugees to the Serbian town of Šabac, hoping for a better life there. When Serbia was invaded by Austria-Hungary, Dragoljub had just begun elementary school. His father was among the ones that were killed in the initial battles of the war.

As the Austro-Hungarian Army approached Belgrade, he participated in the attempts to defend the Serbian capital against the invading forces. Jeličić later managed to escape southwards to a unit stationed near Rudnik. During a battle for the Mačva region, he was wounded while replacing a machine gunner who had been killed earlier. During the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in the Second World War, he joined the Yugoslav Partisan resistance movement. He died in Nikšić in 1963, leaving three daughters behind him.