A monumental stone was unveiled near the town of Maglaj, in the location were one of the first graduates of the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, 1st Lieutenant Normundas Valteris was killed in the international peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his sacrifice.
“Honouring a soldier killed in action is to give meaning to his memory and to foster respect to human life. The memory of Normundas has to live on in the hearts of all Lithuanian troops,” says Nerijus Kundrotas, colleague of 1st Lt Normundas Valteris in two peacekeeping missions in the Balkans, who is currently the principal of a Youth School in Šiauliai named in the honour of 1st Lt N. Valteris.
The memorial was fundraised for, taken to the location and set in place by officers of the first 1994 crop of the Military Academy of Lithuania, friends and colleagues, who served and were deployed to the peacekeeping mission with 1st Lt N. Valteris. They flew the Lithuanian tri-color in memory of their comrade in the mountains that they used to look at during the peacekeeping mission daily.
“The journey over the mountains has taken us back mentally to the grim post-war Bosnia, however, the view opening from the site of the memorial stone for Normundas are peaceful and speak of the sacrifice he had made for the greater good,” Gintaras Jaloveckas, fellow student of N. Valteris back at the Military Academy of Lithuania and a colleague during the international mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, shared his memories.
The monumental stone for 1st Lt N. Valteris has been built practically in the same spot where he perished in the mountains, next to the monumental stone built earlier for Danish service member Arne Andersen, the two died together.
“We do not need to wait until the All Souls Eve, an anniversary or another specific date to pay homage to our fallen brothers-in-arms. I simply know and feel that there must be remembrance of and respect to our comrades and I am happy that they do not fall into oblivion,” spoke Nerijus Šileika, a friend of 1st Lt N. Valteris at the Military Academy of Lithuania and during the mission in Bosnia.
The Lithuanian servicemembers then visited the town of Maglaj, met with its municipal officials, presented to them the commemorative medal of 1st Lt N. Valteris, and also met with the Permanent Representative of the Organization of European Security and Cooperation whose office is based in Maglaj. 1st Lt N. Valteris’ friends also paid a visit to express regard to the family of the Croatian soldier who died while on service in Lithuania in 2017.
1st Lt N. Valteris was lost on 17 April 1996 while on a mission near the town of Maglaj in northern Bosnia. The vehicle with four Lithuanian and Danish troops on board hit an anti-tank mine on a mountain pass. The explosion killed N. Valteris and a Danish service member, A. Andersen.
N. Valteris was posthumously awarded the 2nd class Order of the Cross of Vytis for self-sacrifice and courage in a NATO peacekeeping mission in the former Republic of Yugoslavia and the NATO Medal for service and campaigns.
Service friends also placed a memorial stone for N. Valteris in the territory of the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. The Lithuanian officer’s name is also on the memorial in Viborg, Denmark.
The final resting place of 1st Lt N. Valteris is at Ginkūnai Cemetery in Šiauliai. The officer graduate in the first crop of the first level studies at the Military Academy of Lithuania and deployed to the international mission UNPROFOR in Croatia with LITPLA-1 in 1994. In 1996, served in the international peacekeeping mission Implementation Force IFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
