Shwartz, Arie (Leibele)

Son of Marco and Leah. He was born on December 28, 1948, at the height of the War of Independence in Nicosia, Cyprus. They were deported to Cyprus and stayed there for about a year and three months until they arrived in Israel upon the establishment of the State of Israel. In these camps Aryeh was born, and when the parents brought him to the safe haven, the boy was six months old. Since the family’s arrival in Israel she settled in Netanya and since his childhood grew up there. Aryeh graduated from the Ussishkin Elementary School and the Tchernichovsky Arab High School. Where he also joined the “Zevulun” sea-goers’ association, because he loved the sea and therefore engaged in all kinds of water sports. He was quiet and innocent, loved by his friends. From Zevulun, Arie found his way to Gadna-Yam and was in a pre-military course on behalf of the Navy in 1965. Immediately after completing the course, he enlisted in the IDF (April 1966) and began serving in the Eilat destroyer. Even before he was 19 years old, he had already participated in a combat operation in the Six-Day War, and in addition to his attraction to the sea, he was an art lover and his sensitivity in this area amazed his friends. They did not spend many days and Aryeh showed courage and volunteering while drowning the “Eilat” and was commended by the navy. Aryeh’s act, which caused his death the day after the destruction of the destroyer on the 19th of Tishrei 5728 (22.10.1967), was given on the certificate of honor and was brought to rest in the military cemetery in Netanya. “After Eilat was hit, the connection between the parts of the ship was severed. Cpl. Schwartz volunteered to swim to the back of the ship to transport a rope with the possibility of transporting rafts with wounded to the bow, jumped into the sea in the dark, swam against currents that pulled him into the gaps in the wrecked vessel and managed to reach her thighs. For about an hour and a half he helped the wounded in the bow of the ship without rest, with unusual displays of devotion. ” Corporal Schwartz abandoned the ship among the latter and died as a result of wounds sustained by an underwater explosion, and Aryeh was assigned a sergeant degree from the day the destroyer was drowned. The training and information branch in the General Staff is told about the battle for which it was commended.