Fook, Chaim

Chaim (Henrik), son of Pesia and Gustav, was born on 25.4.1950 in Warsaw, Poland, and immigrated to Israel with his family in the year 5717. He studied at the elementary school in Pardes Hannah and in 1958, when his family moved to Tel Giborim, he attended the “Alumim” elementary school. Afterward he continued his studies at the Sokolov Laor high school in Jaffa. He completed his studies and passed the matriculation exams at the Technical Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. Chaim was very much loved by his classmates and teachers. Even after his parents moved to Holon, his ties with his school in Pardes Hannah were not severed, and he often visited his friends and teachers, especially his teacher Ruth. He was a lively, active young man who found a special interest in everything. He was naturally blessed with a discerning eye and a sensitive heart. In his youth he used to collect and treat the animals with great devotion. Volunteer spirit and willingness to help others were always the most prominent lines in his image. Haim was gifted with many talents, and when he was about eight years old he began to play the accordion. After that he was a member of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipal Orchestra and played the trumpet. Apart from his talent for music, he excelled at both agility and wit. He repaired broken instruments, cultivated a garden around the house, and worked during vacations from school, as an electrician and as a painter. With all this, his true love was sports. He was eleven years old when he first took a bicycle race. He wanted to follow his father, who was a famous cyclist in Poland before World War II, and to win many trophies like him. Cycling was a major preoccupation of Haim’s life. He went out for practice instead of going out for fun, had a special way of life and spent hours treating his bicycle. Despite his many occupations, he did not neglect his family and maintained a special relationship of friendship and understanding with his sister Miriam, whom he loved with all his heart. He used to share all his experiences with her and she did not hide anything from him. They loved to go out and spend time together and spent long hours together. Haim was drafted into the IDF in early 1969 and volunteered for the Paratroopers Brigade, and after completing basic training, he was sent to a training course in the Combatant Corps and was sent to a course for infantry officers, at the end of which he was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was assigned to the Training Command as a guide, and was later transferred, at his request, to serve in the Sinai as an officer of strongholds. His comrades in the unit remember him as a model warrior, and as a commander with a natural leadership ability, who performed all his duties with dedication and devotion. He always sought difficult roles he saw as a challenge and made sure to make them impeccable. In every place and in every position he rushed to “organize the guys” to work, and served as a personal example and helped both advice and action. During the Yom Kippur War, Haim participated with his unit in the battle against the forces that attacked the strongholds along the Suez Canal. He later took part in the battles on the western side of the canal. On the 4th of Kislev, 5734 (29 November 1973), he was hit by an Egyptian sniper when he was at a lookout post on a tree south of Ismailia. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul, leaving behind his parents and sister, and in a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the defense minister wrote: “He was a devoted soldier, a talented officer and a loyal friend. Of blessed memory”.