Shalit, Yoel

Yoel, son of Yael and Zvi, was born on the 28th of Sivan 5714 (28.6.1954) in Haifa. He studied at the Lohamei Hagetaot Elementary School in Kiryat Ata, completed two years of study at the Ort Comprehensive High School in Kiryat Bialik and graduated from the military academy of the Ordnance Corps in Tzrifin. Yoel was a Simcha and cheerful boy, active and friendly, and always took upon himself tasks and tasks. He had a developed sense of justice and was always willing to help others. From childhood he loved nature, the flora and fauna, and was an ardent fan of the country and its landscapes. He traveled extensively throughout the country and read, conversed and traveled on foot, out of his interest in the history of settlement in Israel, especially with regard to the Galilee and the Zevulun Valley. He later had close personal ties with many of these places, in the city, the village, the kibbutz and the moshav. Everywhere he went he had friends and friends. In conversations with the company, there was a great deal of talk about the Jewish people’s hold on the entire Land of Israel. Yoel was active in the Hanoar Haoved vehalomed youth movement in his school and from a young age inquired about military matters and read with great curiosity every book or pamphlet he received in the fields of army and security, He was a handsome, blond and blue-eyed boy, always surrounded by friends, cheerful and open in his relationships with others, with an excellent sense of humor, always loved light music and was well versed in all the musical and choral activities. Between the end of his studies and his enlistment in the IDF, he embarked on a journey to Europe. He sailed aboard as a seafaring chemist, toured various countries, saw new landscapes, and returned full of impressions, which he described extensively and admiringly to his family. Yoel was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in mid-May 1972 and served in the Ordnance Corps as a tank mechanic in the Armored Corps in September 1972. In September 1972 he took part in the IDF’s armored raid on southern Lebanon. In the raid, in which his good friend fell, Yoel excelled, but he mourned bitterly for his friend and it affected him greatly. In his unit he was a disciplined and devoted soldier, and in the assessment of his commanders, he was said to have been an excellent weapon man and a model soldier. He loved the army and even intended to serve in the regular army. During the Yom Kippur War, Yoel participated as a tank mechanic in the Armored Corps, which halted Syrian attacks in the southern and central Golan Heights. On the first day of the war, Yoel and his comrades were assigned to the half-track, to patrol the Hosheniya-Nafach axis, to collect the wounded and help repair the damaged vehicle. Their half-track was attacked by a large Syrian force and in the battle that took place on the 7th of Tishrei 5734 (October 7, 1973.) Yoel was killed and killed, brought to rest in the Haifa cemetery, And a twin brother who fought in the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War, after Yoel was promoted to the rank of sergeant, in which he describes the character of Yoel in the Shalhevet booklet, published by the Ort High School in Kiryat Bialik, Adar 5734.