Since it was Israel's 60th Birthday I figured I should probably write something about it. There is an interesting thing in Israel that the day before Independence Day is their Memorial Day. I think they like the transition from something depressing to something uplifting.
Because it was Memorial Day my company was given early leave in order to represent the paratroopers at various military graves across the country (and as a nice bonus we were given the rest of the week off). Harrison and I went to the military cemetery in Haifa on Wednesday morning May the 7th. We were assigned to stand at different graves and act as representatives of the paratroopers for the families whose grave we were at. Where I was stationed there was a soldier who was killed in 1973 during a training exercise.
He was using a newly developed "mini-grenade", however, there was a problem with the
design that did not enable soldiers to hear whether or not the grenade had been activated.
From what I understood the soldier had released the grenade and activated it without
knowing. It detonated close to him and a piece of shrapnel cut his neck.
In addition to the soldier's sister and her family, friends of his from his unit were also there. I was told that they have been coming every year for 35 years.
Next to where I was standing was a soldier whose family had all passed away. As it turns out 4 years ago there was a girl soldier who was sent as a representative to his grave and she was so saddened by the fact that no one was there to visit him on Memorial Day that has come back every year to visit even though she is no longer in the army. Two years ago the girl's boyfriend died in the Second Lebanon War, and now she continues to visit the grave every year before going to her boyfriend's grave.
We waited with the families through the moment of silence and then through the following ceremony.
That evening I attended a ceremony on the kibbutz marking the end of Memorial Day and the start of Independence Day. After the ceremony there was a big barbecue at the kibbutz and dozens of free concerts through out the country. We talked about going to one of the concerts, but in the end we decided to go to a party at a nearby kibbutz. It was a good time, but I think I was expecting more for the country's 60th anniversary (maybe I needed to be in a big city).
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