Wolitz, Dan

Son of Vera and Anton, he was born in Yugoslavia on February 15, 1943. His parents, Holocaust survivors, immigrated to Israel in 1948 and settled in Gedera, where Dan attended the elementary school in the village and continued to study at the ORT-Evening School. In December 1962, Dan enlisted in the IDF. He took a military driver’s course and served as a driver. After leaving regular service, Dan returned to his profession as an electrician. When the Six-Day War broke out, he was drafted. Dan was wounded in the war, injured his thighbone, and for a few years his ability was limited. In 1969, he returned to serve as a driver in the permanent army. In the Yom Kippur War, Dan was recruited as an ambulance driver and served as a driver during the period when he was called up to reserve duty, and during the Peace for Galilee War he was drafted and assigned to the Artillery Corps, On 24 Sivan, June 15, 1982, he was ordered to take a truck with ammunition, and on the eve of the evacuation, Dan was passing by the village of Kok, east of Lake Karun, on a narrow road. The truck overturned and Dan was killed. He was laid to rest in the military section of the Gedera cemetery, leaving behind a son, a mother and a sister. The defense minister Ariel Sharon wrote to his mother: “Dan served in the Regiment of Artillery Force. He was a devoted soldier and a model member.”