Mizrachi, Zion

Son of Malka and Eliyahu. Born on the 17th of Cheshvan 5765 (17.10.1964) in Haifa and raised in Moshav Megadim. He attended the Nir Etzion religious elementary school in Nir Etzion and continued his studies at the Kfar Galim High School. He was a modest, job-seeking and active child, who from an early age would wake up with his parents and accompany them to agricultural work in the field. Even then he knew how to operate a tractor and plow. In his youth he was interested in tractors and cars. On his sixteenth birthday he became a horse lover and raised and nurtured his own horse. But his main hobby was football, in which he spent most of his time. Even after his enlistment, when he returned home for short vacations from hard military training, he did not skip active participation in the game. Prior to his induction into the IDF, he spent most of his free time in training, out of a desire to reach the paratroopers, and was drafted into the IDF in October 1982 and volunteered to serve in the paratroopers. In 1984 he went to a course for infantry officers, who at the end returned to the battalion and became the platoon commander in the company. After a certain period, he went to a company commanders’ course and at the end was appointed deputy company commander. After his regular service, he joined the ranks of the permanent army. In November 1986 he commanded a company of recruits, which he continued to accompany for 14 months in training and service in Lebanon. His last job was the commander of an auxiliary company in the battalion. He advanced to the rank of Captain. Zion fell in battle on the 17th of Iyar 5748 (February 4, 1988) when a force of parachutists took over on a terrorist base in Maidon, Lebanon. He was brought to rest at the military cemetery in Haifa. Survived by his parents, sister and brother – Elisabeth and Shimon. The commander of the battalion in which he served wrote in a letter of condolence to the family: “Zion was characterized by modesty and peace of mind, an eternal smile and a child’s shyness, a high-ranking officer who never boasted of his military actions, but always set himself and his soldiers high demands. Always aspire to lead forward and get the most difficult and complex tasks. ” The parents of a soldier who served under his command wrote to Zion’s parents in appreciation of the personal, caring and generous attitude of the commander to their son and the great trust they had in their unit in the unit thanks to Zion’s leadership. His family commemorated his name in a memorial booklet he published in his memory