Morciano, Jacques (Jacob)

Son of Simi and Shimon, was born on March 23, 1941 in Casablanca, Morocco. In October 1956, when he was 15, he immigrated to Israel alone, without his family, as part of the Youth Aliya. He began his education at the Alliance elementary school in Casablanca and continued his studies at a French high school. In Israel he completed his studies at the Youth Aliyah Institute in Magdiel and later at the Ruppin Midrasha. He paid for mechanics, mostly in agricultural machinery. While in Morocco, Jacques joined the Scout movement and was a member of the Hanoar Hazioni Movement. During his studies at the Magdiel Institute, he was active in the field of sports and dance. He loved music, played the accordion, and participated in a youth orchestra. In February 1959, he enlisted in the IDF as part of the Nahal Brigade. He stayed with the nucleus in the cooperative Moshav Ptolemy-Yaffa, and later on Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. After completing his regular service, he was assigned to a Paratroopers Brigade, where he served all the years, until they fell in battle in Lebanon. In 1960 his family arrived from Morocco and settled in Ashdod. He joined them, married and set up a home in Ashdod and had two daughters and a son. Jacques worked as a foreman at the Leyland plant in Ashdod. During the Six-Day War, he fought with his brigade during the conquest of northern Sinai, and later moved northward and participated in the conquest of the Golan Heights. When the War of Attrition began, he fought in the Jordan Valley and took part in the pursuit of terrorists. In the Yom Kippur War he was with the fighters in the Golan Heights. He took part in the braking battles, and when the counter-attack began, he regained control of the Hermon. Jacques continued to advance with his unit into Syria and was among the occupiers of the Syrian enclave. During his service in the reserves, he went up the ranks. In July 1973 he was promoted to sergeant and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. In August 1979 he was promoted to the rank of Major-General Jacques was one of the veteran soldiers in the Paratroopers Brigade where he served, and when he was offered, due to his advanced age, to move to another battalion, he refused, and fought with his brigade during the Peace for Galilee War. 9.6.1982), when he advanced with the paratroopers in the suburbs of Sidon, his unit was attacked by a terrorist ambush, and he was killed and killed at the age of 41. He was laid to rest in the Ashdod military cemetery and was followed by a wife, two daughters, “Jacques served in a paratroop infantry battalion, was a devoted soldier, excelled in his ability to integrate new generations of fighters with devotion, strength and perseverance. The commander of his unit wrote: “Jacques was one of the veteran soldiers in the unit, well known and admired for his comrades and commanders, and although he could finish his position as a combat soldier in the unit, he refused to leave and preferred to volunteer and serve there.”