Cohen, Zechariah

Son of Nahum and Zvia. He was born on November 25, 1939 in Haifa. Zechariah was seven when his family moved to Givatayim. Where he completed his studies in an elementary school, but as a member of the Hanoar Haoved movement he continued to live in a kibbutz and continued his studies at Kibbutz Alonim and completed high school there. He was a counselor in immigrant communities and active in educating counselors. He was a youth counselor and cultural center of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement in the Dan region. When he was drafted into the IDF in April 1958, he was sent to the Armored Corps and took a tank commander course, and after his discharge from the army he went to reserve duty at the time called to reserve duty. In this framework he was also at the outbreak of the Six Day War, on the second day of the battles, He was buried in the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery, and in a letter to his parents, his comrades wrote to his parents: “Zechariah had a friend more than a commander. Before the war many of us did not know him and yet loved him. In these few days he appeared before us as a figure glorifying the name Adam. The letter relates that the unit crossed the border through the village west of Jenin, and when they left, Zechariah revealed his human feelings about three villagers who had not managed to escape and hid behind a rock. He approached them, tried to reassure them that no harm would befall them, and after a short conversation he fought back to the village and ordered the soldiers not to harm them. But when the caravan was on its way, at dawn it encountered a huge force of the enemy, and the struggle was difficult. Here Zechariah again proved the man in him: Many of his friends were crying out for help, because in their defeat in this struggle he felt the direction of the company’s technical half-track and then noticed a tank hit by the enemy. The enemy’s armor in order to try and rescue every injured person – and in this action Zachariah was wounded by the shell that hit the half-track. His subordinates, who were in the half-track, remember his words while ordering him to move: “This is indeed suicide, but the wounded must be saved.” His service was raised by the brigade commander to the rank of captain after they fell. “A memorial booklet,” Zachariah “, was published by the General Federation of Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, the professional division of the Tel Aviv branch, and its name was immortalized in the Municipal Information Bulletin and the local life of the Givatayim municipality and in the city’s” Book of the Fallen. “