Croatian General Gordan Cacic Dies

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence informed us that Cacic died in a hospital in San Martino on Saturday night.

General Gordan Cacic died on Saturday night in the Italian hospital San Martino, said the spokesperson of the Croatian Ministry of Defence, Goran Gorsinic.

Remember, the state secretary Gordan Cacic was on a skiing vacation in Italy, when on Friday around noon, he suffered a serious accident on the ski slopes near Cortina d'Ampezzo, and was quickly taken by helicopter to the hospital “San Martino”.

On Friday afternoon Cacic was operated on, after which he was in a critical state of health, and only machines were keeping him alive.

The Italian Minister of Defence Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa voiced his condolence to the family of the deceased general.

“After hearing the news about Cacic’s early death, Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa, the Italian Minister of Defence and president of the National Alliance party, voiced his deep sympathy to his family, friends and co-workers of the deceased state secretary” it says in the report that was published by the Italian agency AGI.

Biography of Gordan Cacic

Gordan Cacic was born on January 1, 1961 in Vinkovci, where he finished primary school. After that he finished the polytechnic high school in Zagreb. He studied at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb and at the Faculty of Economy in Osijek.

Besides that he went to school in the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany and at the National Defence University in the USA, where he graduated according to the “international fellows” program, and earned a master’s degree at the “Industrial College of the Armed Forces” in the field of national security. He finished the command centre school at the Croatian Military College.

He was a volunteer in the Croatian War of Independence, and one of the founders of the “podsusedska” company, one of the first volunteer units founded on September 9, 1990, in which he carried out the function of deputy commander. During the battles in Slavonia, he was wounded in 1991 as a member of the 160^th brigade.

After recovering from being wounded, he was relocated in 1992 to the main command (general staff) to the position of advisor for recruiting for defence units.

During the next year he was sent to the general staff school, after which in 1994 he was named for the position of chief of staff of the commander in the Croatian Armed Forces. In 1998 he was deputy commander of the command centre for training, and since January 1999 he was commander of the 1^st Croatian guard alliance.

The next year he was named commander of the intelligence brigade, from where he goes to the USA for schooling. Upon his return he takes over duties as the head of the intelligence jobs of the “General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia”, whilst from December 2002 to September 2008 he was the head of the military security intelligence agency.

He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 2002, and in 2005 he was promoted to the rank Major General.

Gordan Cacic was decorated for his contribution to the defence of Croatia and bravery during the Croatian War of Independence. He received the Order of Duke Domagoj with a necklace, Order of Nikola Subic Zrinski, Order of the Croatian Cross, Order of the Croatian Trefoil, Order of the Croatian Wattle, Memorial Medal for the Croatian War of Independence, Memorial Medal for Homeland Thanksgiving, as well as medals from Operations “Flash” and “Storm”.

Minister Vukelic voices condolence to family

Gordan Cacic left behind his wife Vesna, daughter Vlatka, and grandchild Fran who the Croatian Minister of Defence Branko Vukelic sent a letter of condolence to.

The book of condolence will be opened in the Ministry of Defence, whilst the place and time of the commemoration and burial will be announced later.

The humanitarian concert by the orchestra of the Armed Forces that was scheduled for Sunday, December 21 in Zagreb’s concert hall “Vatroslav Lisinski” has been delayed due to the tragic death of general Cacic, reports the Croatian Ministry of Defence.