Vrnjačka Banja
Jovanović was born in Aleksinac, Kingdom of Serbia. His parents moved to Aleksinac from Prilep, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. The family moved to Vrnjačka Banja while Dragutin was a child. He finished grammar school in Vrnjačka Banja before enrolling in a technical college. later, he worked on the construction of Stalac-Kruševac-Užice railway. It was there that the chief engineer gave him the name "Lune", a nickname that he carried throughout his career.