Tuesday, April 14, 2009
New Friends
The people I worked with for the two weeks I was in Israel were absolutely wonderful. They are all Public Affairs professionals. This photo doesn’t include everyone -- since they are all reservists, some of them had to get back to their “other” jobs on our last day there.
A few people of note: the two ladies in the front row -- Rotem and Harel -- along with one other young lady (Yael), helped me “escape” to the local mall one day for lunch. It was great to get away from chow hall food and wander in a bit of civilization, even if it was only for an hour or so. They even helped me find Pooh Bear books written in Hebrew for my young relatives (niece, nephew, cousins’ kids). I always try to buy a few children’s books for my own kids when I travel, and I like giving such books as gifts too ... hoping it will inspire a love of languages while they’re still young. Besides, with the illustrations, it’s fairly easy to make up your own version of the stories. In this case, Yael translated the books for me since I couldn’t decipher the script and couldn’t rely on an online translation for help.
One person who isn’t in this group shot (and I’m drawing a blank on his name), told us how his grandfather heard back in 1946 that Jews were going to declare a Jewish homeland -- the country of Israel. So his grandfather headed west from northern Iraq and WALKED to present-day-Israel with his family so he could be a part of the fledgling country. This was two years before Israel declared independence!
Jeff and I are posing with David, Barry and Jonathan here. I worked with the three of them almost every day. I thought it was interesting how many of them have dual-citizenship. All three of these individuals are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens and immigrated to Israel from the U.S.
Here we are (below) with Jonathan and Yehuda after our out-briefing (just before Jonathan took Jeff and me to his campus). They both also immigrated from the U.S., and I believe both still have dual-citizenship. Yehuda is amazing. At one time, he spoke nine languages. He was a world-class runner, and had been selected to participate in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. As fate would have it, he injured his leg and couldn’t compete, so he didn’t travel to Munich with the Israeli Olympians. During the second week of the Olympics, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by Black September, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization.
Jonathan is a very outgoing and colorful individual, for whom I have a great deal of respect. He kinda reminded me of some of my Italian relatives -- outgoing, boisterous and a friend to all. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he was on active duty as a Commando with the Israeli Defense Force. His unit had run out of ammunition, and was often taking ammo from fallen Egyptian soldiers for its own survival. Jonathan said that had the U.S. not flown supplies to Israel during the first few days of the war, he and his unit would not have survived. That said, before I travel somewhere new and interesting, I often ask my dad if he’d been there during his Air Force career. When I asked him whether he’d been to Israel, he replied that he’d been there only once -- in early October 1973 to offload supplies at Lod Airport (now Ben-Gurion Airport). When he checked his flight log, it showed one landing and one take-off on Oct. 7 (the war started on the 6th). He clearly remembers that his C-141 was one of the first U.S. cargo planes on the ramp -- all of them bringing in supplies for the Israeli military. When I relayed this story to Jonathan, his eyes immediately welled up with tears, he grabbed my hand in a hearty handshake and told me to thank my dad. He later told me, “It could very well be that your dad brought in some of the goodies that my unit actually ended up using to defend our dear country, with our backs against the wall, in probably one of the nastiest wars we have ever had to fight.” Wow. If you notice, you’ll see that he’s standing beside me in all three of these photos -- definitely not coincidence. As a footnote, Dad sent Jonathan a copy of the book “Operation Nickel Grass,” detailing how the U.S. flew supply missions to Israel, which Jonathan now has on display in his office at the university.
A few people of note: the two ladies in the front row -- Rotem and Harel -- along with one other young lady (Yael), helped me “escape” to the local mall one day for lunch. It was great to get away from chow hall food and wander in a bit of civilization, even if it was only for an hour or so. They even helped me find Pooh Bear books written in Hebrew for my young relatives (niece, nephew, cousins’ kids). I always try to buy a few children’s books for my own kids when I travel, and I like giving such books as gifts too ... hoping it will inspire a love of languages while they’re still young. Besides, with the illustrations, it’s fairly easy to make up your own version of the stories. In this case, Yael translated the books for me since I couldn’t decipher the script and couldn’t rely on an online translation for help.One person who isn’t in this group shot (and I’m drawing a blank on his name), told us how his grandfather heard back in 1946 that Jews were going to declare a Jewish homeland -- the country of Israel. So his grandfather headed west from northern Iraq and WALKED to present-day-Israel with his family so he could be a part of the fledgling country. This was two years before Israel declared independence!
Jeff and I are posing with David, Barry and Jonathan here. I worked with the three of them almost every day. I thought it was interesting how many of them have dual-citizenship. All three of these individuals are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens and immigrated to Israel from the U.S.Here we are (below) with Jonathan and Yehuda after our out-briefing (just before Jonathan took Jeff and me to his campus). They both also immigrated from the U.S., and I believe both still have dual-citizenship. Yehuda is amazing. At one time, he spoke nine languages. He was a world-class runner, and had been selected to participate in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. As fate would have it, he injured his leg and couldn’t compete, so he didn’t travel to Munich with the Israeli Olympians. During the second week of the Olympics, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by Black September, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization.
Jonathan is a very outgoing and colorful individual, for whom I have a great deal of respect. He kinda reminded me of some of my Italian relatives -- outgoing, boisterous and a friend to all. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he was on active duty as a Commando with the Israeli Defense Force. His unit had run out of ammunition, and was often taking ammo from fallen Egyptian soldiers for its own survival. Jonathan said that had the U.S. not flown supplies to Israel during the first few days of the war, he and his unit would not have survived. That said, before I travel somewhere new and interesting, I often ask my dad if he’d been there during his Air Force career. When I asked him whether he’d been to Israel, he replied that he’d been there only once -- in early October 1973 to offload supplies at Lod Airport (now Ben-Gurion Airport). When he checked his flight log, it showed one landing and one take-off on Oct. 7 (the war started on the 6th). He clearly remembers that his C-141 was one of the first U.S. cargo planes on the ramp -- all of them bringing in supplies for the Israeli military. When I relayed this story to Jonathan, his eyes immediately welled up with tears, he grabbed my hand in a hearty handshake and told me to thank my dad. He later told me, “It could very well be that your dad brought in some of the goodies that my unit actually ended up using to defend our dear country, with our backs against the wall, in probably one of the nastiest wars we have ever had to fight.” Wow. If you notice, you’ll see that he’s standing beside me in all three of these photos -- definitely not coincidence. As a footnote, Dad sent Jonathan a copy of the book “Operation Nickel Grass,” detailing how the U.S. flew supply missions to Israel, which Jonathan now has on display in his office at the university.
Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home
<< Home
