The interesting story of the youngest soldier in WWI, Momčilo Gavrić, born on 1st May, 1906 and sadly passed away on 28th April, 1993 in Trbušnica, near Loznica, on the hills of the mountain Gučevo. He was the eighth out of about eleven children, in the family of Alimpije and Jelena Gavrić.
He is said to have been the youngest known soldier in the World War I who was fully submitted into his unit when he was just 7 years old, and was promoted to the rank of corporal when he was just eight.
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World War I
From the onset of August in 1914, Austro-Hungarian military men of the 42nd Croatian Home Guard Infantry Division injured and hanged his parents, grandmother, his three sisters, and four of his brothers. His house was also set ablaze by the soldiers. Momčilo survived because he was not at home when the tragic incident occurred; his father had erranded him to his uncle earlier.
He was left without a family or a home to live in. Momčilo took off to find the 6th Artillery Division of the Serbian army, which was located near Gučevo at the time. Major Stevan Tucović, known to be the brother of Dimitrije Tucović, approved Gavrić into his unit after listening to what had happened to his family and home, and assigned Miloš Mišović, a soldier in the unit, to be Gavrić’s caretaker.
Around that same evening, Momčilo Gavrić took vengeance by showing his unit the location of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and partook in the storm, as narrated by his son called Branislav Gavrić in an interview.
When he was about 8 years old, after the Battle of Cer, he was promoted to the level of Corporal by the commander of his unit, and provided a military uniform.
When his unit was taken to Thessaloniki, Major Tucović sent him to Sorovits where he quickly went through the equal of four grades of primary education.
Momčilo Gavrić
In Kajmakčalan, Field Marshal Mišić was amazed when he saw a ten-year-old boy in a uniform in the trenches. Major Tucović clarified the predicament to him; that Gavrić had been with them since the beginning Battle of Cer, and that he had both been taught discipline and been wounded during his time in the unit. Mišić promoted Momčilo Gavrić to Lance Sergeant, and the order was read out to the whole division.
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