Steven Hilmes

The son of Julie and Marshall. Steve was born in the United States on March 7, 1947, where he completed his law degree.

Steve served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, and after his release, joined the Los Angeles Police Department for the Special Anti-Doping Unit. He left his family behind in 1973 when he immigrated to Israel,  where he studied Hebrew and at the same time opened recruitment procedures for the Israeli police. He was drafted as a police officer in the Central District at the end of 1973.

In 1976, he was ordained as a bomb expert in the Central Territory Bomb Unit in Jerusalem bomb unit. Steve was known as a volunteer for every mission, but he was a “lone wolf” and few knew him. During his service as a demolition specialist, Steve dismantled many explosives with coolness and professionalism.

In September 1978, Steve was called to handle a “suspicious object” in the back yard of the gas works on Bethlehem Road in Jerusalem. He walked up to it, bent over to look at it… and it exploded in his face and Steve was severely wounded. His parents, it turned out, did not know about his dangerous occupation as a member of the bomb squad in the Israeli police, because he did not want to worry them.

Sergeant Steve died of his wounds on Sunday in Elul 5798 (9 September 1978). He was thirty-one years old. He was buried in Herzl Cemetery, Jerusalem.