 Bursać was born on 2 August 1920 in the village of Kamenica , near Drvar in the region of Bosanska Krajina , the north @-@ western sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( then part of the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes , renamed as Yugoslavia in 1929 ) . The Drvar area was inhabited primarily by ethnic Serbs , with Bosnian Muslims and Croats forming less than four percent of the population . Bursać was the oldest of five children of stonemason Nikola Bursać and his wife , Joka , who mostly raised sheep and cattle on their family farm . Like other village girls , Bursać did not go to school — only the boys attended elementary school in Drvar . A shepherdess until age fourteen , she later helped her mother with housekeeping and agricultural work . Bursać became skilled at weaving , spinning , knitting and embroidery before completing a six @-@ month tailoring course in Drvar . 
