Halpern, Amitai

Amitai, Batya and David, was born on April 15, 1952 in Haifa, where he studied at the Arlozorov Elementary School in Kiryat Haim and graduated from the Kiryat Haim high school in the real world. , And in elementary school he “jumped” a class, and therefore graduated from high school at the age of 17. Amitai had musical tendencies and played several instruments: first he played percussion instruments: mandolin, mandola and mandochalo and afterward studied at the Conservatory of Music His great love was the recorder, from which he did not separate during his army service, in training and parachuting, and even took the war with him. He was a member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, and as an active member he served as an instructor in the movement until his enlistment. Amitai volunteered for the IDF before his time, at the end of October 1969 , So that he could be together with his friends and joined the “Mashav” group that was supposed to set out for Kibbutz Ga’ash, and he volunteered for the paratroop brigade, where he did basic training and basic training in the paratroopers’ battalion. After basic training he chose to go to a course for combat medics so that he could help others when needed. During his service in the IDF, he combined agricultural work with Nahal outposts in operational activity, most of which he did as a combat medic. He participated in raids and combat operations carried out by the IDF in southern Lebanon and in the Fatah-Land area, during which he was involved in the Nahal Tzofar and Geshur outposts and was involved in both the economic and security sectors, The Nahal Brigade. At the end of November 1972 Amitai was released from regular service and assigned to a reserve unit of the Armored Corps. He served as a combat medic in an armored patrol battalion. This unit is called for reserve duty. After being discharged from regular service, he served as a mathematics teacher at Kibbutz Gaash, but his desire to acquire knowledge and enrich his education led him to decide to leave the kibbutz. He successfully completed the entrance exams at the Technion and was about to begin his studies at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management in 1974. Together with Hagit, his girlfriend from the school, he was about to start a family and build a house in the city of Haifa, And in the Yom Kippur War, his unit participated in the battles of containment and infiltration against the Egyptians in the Sinai, where Amitai treated the wounded and helped to rescue the wounded under heavy fire and transfer them to evacuation units in the rear of the fighting forces On October 16, 1973, , Was in an armored personnel carrier with wounded people evacuated from the cold field In the course of the journey, the APC was hit by enemy fire and Amitai was killed. He was brought to eternal rest in the Haifa cemetery. Survived by his parents and sister. After his fall, he was promoted to corporal. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the unit commander wrote: “Amitai took part in the battle to establish a bridgehead in the central sector of the Suez Canal and fell on 16 October 1973. His actions and perseverance in this long war served us as a source of strength. Amitai was loved and accepted by his friends and commanders. Your loss is also our loss. “His comrades in the battalion published a booklet containing a story about the battalion’s fighting in this campaign, as well as about the image of Amitai.