Giladi, Yigal

Yigal, son of Rachel and Jacob, a Holocaust survivor, was born on 12 July 1953 in Hadera. And attended the elementary school in Neve Magen, the Amal vocational school in Herzliya and the Rotenberg vocational school in Ramat Hasharon. As a youngster, Yigal had excelled in leadership skills in his class and was always ready to help any member. He was a good student and disciplined, loved music and painting and traveled extensively throughout the country. He was a handsome boy, tall and strong, with a smiling face. He was friendly by nature and loved to hang out. His most outstanding feature was his willingness to volunteer for any task or position. Yigal was very attached to his family, his parents, and his two brothers. During vacations, he used to stay with his parents. Listen to music in his home and spend time with his many friends. Toward the end of high school, he joined his comrades voluntarily to a Nahal group and they chose to serve in the area of ​a school on Kibbutz Manara.
He was drafted into the IDF in late October 1971 and assigned to the Armored Corps. After basic training, he underwent a course in tank mechanics and served in Sinai. Yigal loved the tanks, “the steel” – as he put it, and excelled as an excellent tank mechanic. No one knew the tool like him – his comrades in the unit testified. During the long period he served in Sinai, he used to write to his family because he loved the wild landscape and the hot sands of the desert. In recognition of his military service, he was awarded the “Operational Service Award”. During the Yom Kippur War Yigal volunteered to serve as a tank driver in a tank battalion. He participated in the great battle against the Egyptians, who crossed the canal. On October 7, 1973, he was hit and killed by a missile in his tank during the battle that took place in the southern sector of the Suez Canal. He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Survived by his parents and two brothers. After his fall, he was promoted to sergeant.