- It was immediately clear that he was a well-bred young man, a warm and decent person from whom I never heard a bad word. –

Damir was called "Dado" by his friends. He was born in the family of Alojz and Marije, and had a twin brother and two sisters. They played together and grew up in the village of Žitnjak.

There, Dado finished elementary school, and after that he enrolled in "Prvomayjska" high school, today's well-known Mechanical Engineering Technical School Faust Vrančić. He served his military service in Kraljevo, and then started working in a printing house in Zagreb.

As a child from Zagreb, he was a fan of Dinamo. He loved watching football and followed all the matches of his favorite club. But besides being a loyal Bad Blue Boy, he was also a good player. For a time he played for the football club Inker from Zaprešić.

Stjepan Vokić remembered him for the purposes of the book "Nisu zaboravljen", authored by Tanja Belobrajdić. His mother Ljilja taught Damira in elementary school:

- I knew Damir because my mother taught him at school, and since there was no church in Petruševac where they lived at that time, he and his brother came to mass in Zvonimirova, in the church of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was immediately clear that he was a well-mannered young man, a warm and decent person from whom I never heard a bad word. He was a Catholic and even then he did not hide his Croatian orientation. Please emphasize that he was special. Really special. –

The boy from Zitnjak

Damir

Vukovar

- I was the youngest, so he always brought me chocolates that they got after lunch in Rakitje, he would save them for me. –

At the beginning of the Homeland War, Dado volunteered to defend the homeland. Already in the spring of 1991, he went to Rakitje, where he became a member of the Special Tasks Unit of the MUP of the Republic of Croatia. From it, the 1st A Brigade of the National Guard Corps, the popular "Tigers", was soon founded.

His first field with them was Eastern Slavonia - Erdut and Dalj. At the beginning of August, with comrades from the 2nd company of the 2nd battalion, led by Zlatko Horvat, he entered Vukovar. That group made a great contribution to the defense of the Borovo settlement, where it stood out in the battles at the "Three-story" position.

- He was always calm, prudent, extremely devoted to his family and protective of us sisters. The last time we saw him was when he came home for a short time, three days before leaving for Borovo naselje.

I was the youngest, so he always brought me chocolate bars that they got after lunch in Rakitje, he would save them for me. When he left, I followed him to the station ten minutes away from our house. I liked to see him off, and he always called me to go with him.

While he was in Vukovar, he called briefly several times, the last time on the first of November. We didn't have a phone back then, he would call the local community where there was always someone on duty, and we would run to answer. He would always say that everything is fine, that everything is fine, but we knew that he was just comforting us, we saw what was happening on television and we were very worried. - recalled Nada, Damir's sister.

Bad Blue Boy

- I have to mention that by chance my friend saved me, if not my life, then certainly my injuries. –

In addition to Borovo naselje, Damir went to help the defense in other parts of Vukovar. So on one occasion he went with Blago Zadar to the most difficult line of defense of the City of Heroes at the Fairgrounds.

His friend and comrade Darko Zlodi told about his war days:

- Dado was a wonderful boy, I knew him before from matches, we often traveled together to visit Dinamo, great as a civilian, and he was like that as a department commander.

I can only say the best about him. (...) Although we started together from Rakitje as members of a special purpose unit, after a series of terrains we ended up in Tigers whose task was to go to Vukovar. Dado was an extremely skilled and dedicated soldier, so he soon became a commander. I must mention that by chance my friend saved my life, if not my injury.

We were in a position above Borov and Dado, after I came from the night shift, asked me if he could go and look after an econ. Of course I agreed... And then the rocket attack started. 6 dead and 18 wounded. My comrades who remained in the house from which Dado sent me on another mission were all badly wounded. –

About a "Tiger"

- In general, the decision was made to go anyway, so as it turns out, it was also said to carry as little equipment as possible. –

When it became clear that there were no more combat assets, and that it was only a matter of days and hours when the defense of the already few defenders would be broken, on November 14, 1991, Damir Krsnik decided that he and his comrades would break through. Turns out that was a mistake. Zlatan Bašić recalled the fateful night:

– On November 14, 1991, around 6-7 in the afternoon, Damir Krsnik Tigar, Zoran Janković, Marović Ante - Bokser and I came from Trpinjska cesta to the three-story building to negotiate a breakthrough. About twenty of us, Tigers, policemen from Varaždin and guys from Našice met there. There were no locals, apart from Janković and Marović, or I don't remember. We talked a lot and agreed how, where and how many people. As one of them came back to us last night and said that they were ambushed on the road along the railway over Bršadin and they were all killed, although in fact they were not, four of them were killed, and 50 of them passed, which we did not know then, we did not want to go there but we wanted to try another direction. To the team from the three-story building, that direction along the railway line seemed the best, and it probably would have been if he hadn't returned the night before and said they were waiting for us, they would have gone that way.

After long discussions, it was decided, and the four of us were most in favor of it, to go over the three-story building towards Crepulja, behind Lička Street, Slavonska Street, Hercegovačka Street, Orlovača na Lipovača, between Bršadin and Pačetin, and then to Nuštar. We somehow thought that it was longer, but we thought that the Chetniks would be more careful in front of them than behind them. Around two o'clock after midnight, the rain stopped and it started to clear up. Some guys were against going because you can see it in the moonlight. In general, the decision was made to go anyway, so as it turns out, it was also said to carry as little equipment as possible. Body armor and helmets were also removed.

As Nedjeljko Husnjak laid our mines, he went first. We went through the orchard, the vines, the fields and came to the corn. We must have walked more than 300 meters. At one point I thought I heard voices, a story. Somehow it seemed to me that the tank was behind the corn. Krsnik decided to go ahead to Husnjak to see what was happening and where we were.

They came across a wire that they were passing to each other and then, boom, light, grunt, flash, then they started shooting at us, in fact, according to the direction of the explosion, they didn't see us. We were lying down, someone called Husnjak, Krsnik, nothing, so Zlodi answered. Sobs and grunts were heard, but there was no answer. We also started shooting at them, so they quieted down, hid. The situation calmed down a bit and we had to go back. I don't know how long we went back, the Tigers were helping the wounded. When we got to the three-story building, I heard that Husnjak, Krsnik and Vusić were killed, and there were also wounded.

That column and that minefield was not just Damir's decision. But it was to go second behind Husnjak, through whose mines we went first. I was caught in the second part of the column with Zoran Janković and boxer Marović from the home team, the others were the Tigers, policemen from Varaždin and Zagorje and part of the defenders from Našice. We ran into mines, guys were killed, some were wounded. War, fate, God, bad luck. To this day, that night is difficult for me. –

The boy from Zitnjak

- It was immediately clear that he was a well-bred young man, a warm and decent person from whom I never heard a bad word. –

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