Roda, Moshe
Moshe, son of Varda and Salim, was born in Tiberias on July 15, 1951. He attended the “Tel Hai” and “Magenim” elementary schools and the Danziger Comprehensive High School in Kiryat Shmona. Moshe was a great student and in almost all of his years in Kiryat Shmona he was the best student in his class. He was very sociable, loved by his friends, his teachers, and his instructors. He was very attached to Kiryat Shmona, where he spent almost all his childhood and youth and was active among the city’s youth. As an amateur athlete, he participated in athletics competitions between schools in the north of Israel and achieved excellent achievements, especially in long runs. Moshe was drafted into the IDF in early May 1969 and served in the Armored Corps as a combat medic after successfully completing a course for combat medics in the Medical Corps, during which he was recruited during the War of Attrition and immediately sent to the front lines of the Suez Canal. And took part in the battles of attrition in this stronghold. As a combat medic, he treated the wounded soldiers with great devotion and professional knowledge, under difficult conditions under enemy fire, and he was a dedicated and loyal soldier who was very much loved by his commanders and friends. He often had the hardest and most dangerous tasks, and he was successful. After his discharge from the army, the Yom Kippur War broke out and he was drafted and sent to the front. During the war Moshe was a combat medic in one of the armored units that fought in the front line of the Suez Canal, stopped the enemy and succeeded in the Suez Canal, and treated dozens of the wounded, and was a pillar of the medical unit. After the fighting ended, Moshe returned home for a short vacation and found that almost all the family members, including his father, were serving on the various fronts. When he returned to his unit west of the Canal to continue his reserve service, he was told that because of his excellence as a paramedic in the war, his commanders decided to upgrade him to a rear base to command a first aid course for the soldiers. But on December 7, 1973, he was critically injured in an arms accident – a hand grenade exploded in his unit, and died of his wounds that day in a helicopter that flew to Refidim Hospital. He was brought to eternal rest in the Kiryat Shmona cemetery. Survived by a wife, parents and three brothers. After his death he was promoted to First Sergeant. Moshe’s commanders and friends said that thanks to his courage at the time of the accident that caused his death, many friends who were standing near the site of the explosion were saved.
