Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1918 — SOLDIER SAVES KING [ARTICLE]

SOLDIER SAVES KING

Serbian Lieutenant Tells Stirring Story of War. « V Out of WJwle Army He Was Selected i.-. to Command Bodyguard of Monarch. Bangor, Me. —Among soldiers recently from European battlefields who passed through here was the officer who was selected to command the guard detailed to escort King Peter of Serbia to a place of safety when the Austrian bombardment made It necessary for the monarch to quit the royal palace in Belgrade. This officer is Lieut. Pavle Yovanovltch, a man of stately figure and courtly manner, who wears upon his tunic the Insignia of the Order of the White Eagle, which Is equivalent to the British Distinguished Service Order, and Order of the White Star, which corresponds to

the, Victoria Cross, besides several gold bars bestowed for service In the Balkan wars. Lieutenant Yovanovltch’s narrative of the country’s sufferings and despoilment at the hands of the Teutonic hordes Is dramatic and pitiful, a vivid word picture, In very good English, of the gallant fight of the Serbs against overwhelming "force. When it became evident that Belgrade must fall preparations were made for safe conduct of King Peter out of the city, and out of the whole Serbian army Lieutenant Yovanovltch was selected to command the body guard, which was of his own choosing—veterans with whom he had been associated In the Balkan campaigns. '' Austrian shells were crashing and thundering in the outskirts of beautiful, Belgrade as the guard of honor drew up at the palace gates, and already the enemy was posting machine guns on roofs within range of the palace. As the king was escorted from the palace to his carriage a hail of bullets swept the plaza, and several of the guard* were wounded, Including

Lieutenant Yoyanovltch, but the king escaped injury. When the party had reached a place of safety the king sent for the lieutenant, whu came, but fell, faint from the loss of blood, at the monarch’s feet Then and there did King Peter bestow the orders that the veteran wears so proudly upon his breast Lieutenant Yovanovltch will return to the battlefields.