Moldovan-Cohen, Moshe-Ephraim (Andre)

Andrei, son of Livia and Alexander, was born on 11.1.1953 in Timisoara, Romania, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1964. Before immigrating to Israel he studied in an elementary school in Romania and studied in an elementary school in Kiryat Gat and Kfar Sava. Afterward he continued his studies at the vocational school at the Neurim Institute in Kfar Vitkin, with the aim of drawing-building. Andre’s family settled in Kiryat Gat. While he was studying at the vocational school, Andrei was active in Gadna, and devoted his leisure time to his one hobby, in which he invested most of his time: building airplanes, and even when he served in the army, he did not abandon his hobby. Andre was drafted into the IDF in early August 1971 and assigned to the Armored Corps. Of course he asked that they send him to an aviation course, but he did not pass the entrance examinations. After basic training and after completing his Patton tank course, and finishing with a high grade, Andre was placed as a tank gunner in an armored battalion. After completing his training course in combat tanks, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and assigned as a non-commissioned officer in an armored battalion that served on the Suez Canal line in Sinai. His commanders tried to convince him that he would also pass an officer’s course, but he refused, because he had other plans, but did not achieve them. He was to marry a wife at the end of October 1973 and was to live with her in Kiryat Gat. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Andrei was with his battalion on the canal line. He took part in the braking battles as a tank commander, and on October 7, 1973, his tank was hit in a battle in the Kantara region, and Andrei was blown out, hit, and killed. At first his burial place was not known and only eight months later his body was returned from the area and remained in the hands of the Egyptians. He was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Gat. Survived by his parents and sister. After his fall, he was promoted to First Sergeant.