He commanded the air force until the end of the First World War. On 1 May 1918, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. When the command was reorganized on 1 October 1918, he was formally degraded because his position as Air Force Commander was renamed as Deputy Air Force Commander. Service in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Following the end of the First World War, Uzelac lived for some time in Petrinja and was drafted into the Royal Yugoslav Army on 28 November 1919, along with two other Austro-Hungarian generals, Rudolf Maister and Ante Plivelić. He was appointed Chief of the newly created Department of Aviation in the Ministry of the Army and Navy, which was, in reality, the position of the Air Force's Commander-in-Chief. He was in charge of the reorganization and modernization of Yugoslav aviation. Although Uzelac laid the foundations for a modern aviation by building it with the experience gained in Austro-Hungarian air force, he was forcibly retired on 19 August 1923 as "unneeded". Service in the Independent State of Croatia In 1941, Uzelac joined Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia as an Honorary General. He worked on the construction of NDH's air force. On 25 November 1941, at the age of 74, he retired. On 21 and 22 August 1942, on the occasion of his 75th birthday and the 30th anniversary of service, a ceremony attended by numerous German, Hungarian and Croatian pilots from World War I, was held in Zagreb. Milan was imprisoned following the end of World War II. Emil Uzelac died in Petrinja on 7 January 1954 and was buried in Mirogoj cemetery. Awards Military Merit Cross Saxe-Ernestine House Order House Order of Hohenzollern Order of the Iron Crown II class with war decoration Order of the Iron Crown III class Order of Leopold Order of the Medjidie II class Iron Cross I class Iron Cross II class Military Merit Medal(Austria-Hungary) Military Merit Cross with war decoration and swords References 1867 births 1954 deaths 19th-century Austrian people 20th-century Austrian people 19th-century Hungarian people 19th-century Serbian people 20th-century Serbian people Air force generals Austro-Hungarian Air Service personnel Military aviation leaders of World War I Croatian Home Guard personnel Royal Yugoslav Air Force personnel Austro-Hungarian Serbs Serbs of Hungary Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery People from Komárom Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 1st