A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Peter Tomich

Peter Tomich

Peter Tomich (June 3rd, 1893 - December 7th, 1941) was born in Prolog, at that time in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For his courage during the raid on Pearl Harbor he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

During World War I he served in the US Army. After enlisting in the United States Navy in January 1919, he initially served on the destroyer Litchfield.

.

By 1941, he had become a Chief Watertender onboard the training and target ship Utah. When that ship was torpedoed during Japan's raid on Pearl Harbor, Tomich was on duty in a boiler room. The Utah was hit by two torpedoes from attacking Japanese planes. The order was given to abandon ship. But Tomich, up on the deck, pushed his way through the men, yelling that he had to get down to his men and his boilers before they blew up. As the Utah began to capsize, he remained below, securing the boilers and making certain that other men escaped. His actions cost him his life.

Tomich's devotion to duty and his brothers in arms did not go unnoticed. For his "distinguished conduct and extraordinary courage", he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 4th, 1942.

The escort ship USS Tomich (DE-242), 1943-1974, was named in honor of Chief Watertender Peter Tomich.

Latest Articles

People Directory

Gordana Vunjak-Novaković

Gordana Vunjak-Novaković

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic is a Serbian American engineer and currently a professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University. She is the director of Columbia's Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering. Vunjak-Novakovic is a highly cited researcher, having published 235 engineering papers, two books, 45 book chapters, and 34 patents. She had also given over 150 lectures across the world. Vunjak-Novakovic is an advisor to the federal government on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, serving as chair of NIH's tissue engineering section. Vunjak-Novakovic's areas of research include tissue engineering, bioreactors, biophysical regulation, tissue development, and stem cell research.

.

Publishing

Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan

Bishop Atanasije (Yevtich) - Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan

by Bishop Athanasius (Yevtich)

In 2013 Christian world celebrates 1700 years since the day when the Providence of God spoke through the holy Emperor Constantine and freedom was given to the Christian faith. Commemorating the 1700 years since the Edict of Milan of 313, Sebastian Press of the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church published a book by Bishop Athanasius Yevtich, Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan. The book has 72 pages and was translated by Popadija Aleksandra Petrovich. This excellent overview of the historical circumstances that lead to the conversion of the first Christian emperor and to the publication of a document that was called "Edict of Milan", was originally published in Serbian by the Brotherhood of St. Simeon the Myrrh-gusher, Vrnjci 2013. “The Edict of Milan” is calling on civil authorities everywhere to respect the right of believers to worship freely and to express their faith publicly.

The publication of this beautiful pocket-size, full-color, English-language book, has been compiled and designed by Bishop Athanasius Yevtich, a disciple of the great twentieth-century theologian Archimandrite Justin Popovich. Bishop Athanasius' thought combines adherence to the teachings of the Church Fathers with a vibrant faith, knowledge of history, and a profound experience of Christ in the Church.

In the conclusion of the book, the author states:"The era of St. Constantine and his mother St. Helena, marks the beginning of what history refers to as Roman, Christian Empire, which was named Byzantium only in recent times in the West. In fact, this was the conception of a Christian Europe. Christian Byzantine culture had a critical effect on Europe; Europe was its heir, and then consciously forgot it. Europe inherited many Byzantine treasures, but unfortunately, also robbed and plundered many others for its own treasuries and museums – not only during the Crusades, but during colonial rule in the Byzantine lands as well. We, the Orthodox Slavs, received a great heritage of the Orthodox Christian East from Byzantium. Primarily, Christ’s Gospel, His faith and His Church, and then, among other things, the Cyrillic alphabet, too."

Online Purchasing

Wikipedia