Expanding his mid-western travels, Simon has now experienced a swim meet in Iowa. He achieved his best times ever! But, it was a “cold” trip.
When asked about Veterans Day in Croatia, Simon explained every year on the 18th of November the anniversary of the fall of the town of Vukovar is marked in Croatia as Remembrance Day. During the 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) between August and November 1991, 1,624 people were killed, including 12 children, 1,219 were wounded, and more than 350 Croatian soldiers unaccounted for. More than 22,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were also expelled from the city. Vukovar was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard and civilian volunteers, against 36,000 JNA soldiers. On 18 November, the last defenders in Vukovar’s town center surrendered.
