Zand, Israel (“Zonio”)

Son of Shmuel and Chaya. He was born in the village of Velko in Bukovina, Romania, and attended elementary school in the village, where he spent all his life in the concentration camps of the Nazis, and in 1947 the family managed to leave the valley of death. And in 1948, they reached the shore of the mikveh, where he studied at the Tachkemoni Elementary School and the vocational high school in Hadera, specializing in mechanics with the Klein brothers, and was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in mid-May 1955 and became very fond of his commanders and friends Service. He served as a car symbol and his commanders asked him to volunteer for the career army. At first he refused, but then he agreed, signed for a year and went to the Combat Symbols course. Israel participated in the Sinai Campaign and was discharged from the army in 1958. He began to work as a mechanic and after he married a wife he became independent in the automotive business, and he was an exemplary and loving husband and father, who loved his children and devoted himself to their cultivation and cultivation faithfully and in sacrifice. He was a reserve soldier in the Armored Corps unit, where he served as a vehicle officer, and was called to reserve duty and during the war he moved with his unit from the Castel through Sheik Abdul- Aziz, Ammunition Hill, Shuafat and Jericho, and after the war his commanders did not let him down and asked him to return In the permanent military service and he returned to serve as commander of the Armored Corps master sergeant rank camp. He was loved by his commanders and subordinates who greatly admired him, for he was a father and a man who understood and respected every soldier. About a year later they asked him to take an officer’s course. He had already passed the preparatory course and in the officers’ course he had excelled in his talents and in his conduct with the officers much younger than him. His friends in the officers’ course tell him: “He could have been our father, both age and love and devotion, and he liked all of us – the cadets and the counselors alike. Himself a regular cadet and not a veteran carpenter. “On the day of the 10th of Kislev 5769 (June 15, 1969), ten days before the completion of the course, he fell in the line of duty, leaving a wife and two children to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul And his son, Ronen, received him at his home in the presence of senior officers, and in a letter of condolences to his wife Aviva, his direct commander wrote: “I knew Israel from the days of his service as an island Reserve Division, beginning in 1962, after his enlistment in the military – while working relationship and close friendship. Israel excelled in all the positions he filled, in the high achievements he achieved, while showing talent, dedication and responsibility, and a good and pleasant work atmosphere that inspired all those who came into contact with him. He knew how to concentrate mainly and always understand what was required of him and bring his men to perform some of them with a laugh on his charming face. His last position in the brigade was not one of the easiest and simplest, but he stood with dignity despite all the difficulties. His departure for the officers’ course and the preparation that preceded it also testified to his solid character and his ability to overcome all the difficulties in order to reach the goal he had set for himself. “