Sheetrit, Amram

Son of Elise and Yitzhak, he was born on March 31, 1938 in Marrakesh, Morocco, where he studied at the Alliance elementary school and joined the Dror youth movement at the age of 13. In 1952 he immigrated to Israel and was educated and worked as a tractor operator and trainer, and in August 1955 he joined the IDF, underwent general training and was first assigned to the Paratroopers Brigade. He was later transferred to the Military Police. From January 1956 until his fall he served as a military policeman. Amram was released from the regular army and for a short period moved to live with his uncle in Jerusalem. In January 1959 he returned to kibbutz life, first in Masada and then in Kibbutz Yagur, where he married Dorit, and his three children were born. Amram fought in the Six-Day War and left the kibbutz with his family to Acre, where he worked as a chemical plant operator at the Frutarom plant, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant during the Six-Day War. He was called on three occasions to serve in Lebanon, and was last called on 8 November 1982 as a sentry at the entrance to the Military Government Building in Tire. On 25 Cheshvan, 11 November 1982, as a result of the explosion of a gas tank in the government building, the building collapsed and buried dozens of IDF soldiers. Among those killed was Amram. He was considered missing for several days until his body was identified. He was 44 when he fell. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Nahariya. He left behind a wife, two sons, a daughter, parents, a brother and two sisters. After his fall he was raised to the rank of sergeant, and his unit commander wrote to his family: “During the Peace for Galilee War, Amram was recruited twice. For the third time he was called upon to fulfill a difficult task imposed on the military police. He was a quiet soldier, disciplined and faithful, loved by his friends and commanders, and often volunteered to perform tasks that he performed in the best possible way.”