Madar, Achihud

Achihud, son of Miriam and Sa’adia, was born on February 22, 1944, in Neveh Hayim near Hadera. He attended elementary school and the Tachkemoni High School in Hadera. He was a diligent student and an amateur athlete and played in the Hapoel Nachaliel soccer team in Hadera. From his childhood, Achihud was very attached to his family and was devoted to his brothers and sisters. He was the third son of the seven children of Miriam and Saadia Madar. Ahihud had rare and unique character traits: an excellent fighter, a hard worker, and a model family person. Achihud was drafted into the IDF in early 1961. He volunteered for the paratroopers, took part in a parachuting and infantry training course and served in special units of the Intelligence Corps, and in March 1964 he received an honorable mention from the Chief of Staff, Yitzhak Rabin, for Excellent performance and excellent workmanship, dedication, and spirituality while adhering to the task. “Following this commendation, the Chief of Staff gave him the” Medal of Honor “. Achihud was also chosen during his military service as an outstanding soldier, presented to President Zalman Shazar on Israel’s sixteenth Independence Day, On the day of the decoration, he did not participate in the ceremony, since he had to complete a work he undertook to finish as a tractor engineer. After being discharged from regular service he worked as a tractor operator and in recent years worked as a contractor for agricultural work in the Hadera municipality. He invested all his energy in the work to ensure the future of his family – his wife and two children. His son Nimrod was born two months before his fall. During the Yom Kippur War, Ahihud fought in an elite unit that fought in the northern Golan Heights. He took part in the fierce battles in the village of Beit Jann, where large Syrian forces barricaded themselves until the village was cleared by IDF fighters, and during the assault on the village, Ahihud was killed from the enemy’s fierce shelling on the 12th of Tishrei, 1973. He was brought to rest in the military section of the cemetery in Hadera and left behind a wife, son, and daughter, parents and six brothers and sisters, and was promoted to the rank of First Sergeant. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, his commander wrote that Ahihud was one of the veteran soldiers in the special unit and of the shape of a fighter. He was one of those thanks to which this unit reached its operational capability and its contribution to national security. In the booklet “With all their might” published by Yad Labanim, Hadera, a list was published about Ahihud.