A quarter of a century has passed since 8 August 2001, when a military convoy that set out from the „Mirche Acev” barracks in Prilep towards Tetovo was ambushed near the place called Karpalak. Ten reservists from Prilep never came home.

Sasho Kitanoski, Nane Naumoski, Branko Sekuloski, Marko Despotoski, Erdovan Shabanoski, Ljube Grujoski, Darko Veljanoski, Vebi Rushitoski, Goran Minoski and Pece Sekuloski. Ten names that everyone in Prilep knows, and that are read aloud again every year.

The commemoration began last night at 6pm with the laying of flowers at the memorial inside the barracks grounds - the same grounds the convoy left from. At 7pm delegations went to the village of Lenishte, to the monument to the defenders, and an evening service was held at the „Sveta Petka” monastery.

Early this morning, representatives of the families and of the Municipality set off for Karpalak itself, on the Skopje - Tetovo road. Then came the visits to the graves. The main commemoration is scheduled for 1pm in front of the Memorial Complex in the centre of Prilep.

Mayor Dejan Prodanoski said the sacrifice creates an obligation. „A quarter of a century ago, ten of our defenders from Prilep laid down their lives defending their homeland. Their sacrifice obliges us never to forget them,” he said.

Twenty-five years is long enough for a whole generation to grow up with no memory of 2001. In Prilep that memory is alive because the town carries it - the families, the comrades, the neighbours. The question is how long one community can carry, on its own, a memory that was supposed to belong to the state.