Katz, Shraga
Son of Tikva and Yosef, was born on March 25, 1962 in Kibbutz Be’erot-Yitzhak. Shraga studied at the “Nahalim” elementary school and at the high school in Kibbutz Yavneh. He excelled in swimming, and won medals in competitions where he achieved good achievements. He also played basketball, and while in high school devoted his time to youth training. His father was a Holocaust survivor and took part in the War of Independence in Israel. The parents saw their son as a character, symbolizing the essence of the new youth, in the generation after the rebirth: handsome, brave and pure-hearted. In October 1980 he enlisted in one of the IDF’s elite units, including several parachuting courses, a course for armored personnel carriers and a course for scouts. Shraga rose to the rank of Corporal, and moved to a reconnaissance unit in the Nahal Brigade. He was not inclined to violence or war, but when he was assigned a job, he performed it with devotion. His approach was: “Do not complain, do not break, be strong and be wherever you need you, be alert and efficient.” On September 24, 1982, when he visited a shop in West Beirut, he was shot and killed when he was 20 years old when he was killed in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Sharon sent a letter to his parents: “He was a model soldier.” After his death, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant
