21 reservists were killed yesterday (Monday) in the heaviest disaster since the beginning of the ground operation, 21 men with families, dreams, loves and ambitions. Their loved ones said goodbye to them and told about the person they were before they fell.
Cedric Greene
Reserve Major Cedric Green’s mother raised him alone in Tel Aviv after his father was returned to the Philippines when he was two years old. As a young boy, he helped support the household. “To this day, it is difficult for her to speak Hebrew. She would work as a cleaner, leave early in the morning and return late in the evening, and I would not meet her. Most of the time I was alone,” he told the IDF website in 2021.
The late Cedric Green with his mother Mel | Photo: IDF spokesman
His studies were affected because of this. “I preferred to go to work in an ice cream parlor, in deliveries, to try to help at home,” he said. He degenerated into a crime and police cases were opened against him. When the police came to arrest him for violence, he asked not to be handcuffed in front of her – and that’s when the turning point occurred. “Suddenly I saw how much I was making it difficult for her, even so she is here alone. I said, ‘I want to change myself, and make her proud of me,'” he said at the time.
The crew of the late Cedric Green in his regular service | Photo: IDF spokesman
Cedric believed that being drafted into combat service would change and “reset” him, but the IDF initially refused to draft him because of his criminal activities: “I asked to talk to everyone, I sat there all day, begging to be drafted. Until an officer arrived who listened to my story, and told me to ‘get on the bus’. I don’t even remember his name, but he said he was giving me a chance, and before any mistake I made I would remember that. I made a commitment and I meant it.”
The late Cedric in his regular service | Photo: IDF spokesman
He enlisted in Givati, but it was not easy for him there either: “It was also difficult for me because I come from a different culture. Where I grew up, everyone came from a different country – Indian, Filipino, African. When I joined the army, there was a very ‘Israeli’ culture, which I was not used to “.
At the end of the course, he went to the military officers’ course and returned to command his battalion on the operational company. Six months later, he also went to the senior sergeants’ course, which is attended by the highest quality commanders, who are chosen by the commanders of their companies and battalions. When he told his mother about the honor, “She was very proud. This is what I wanted to do from the beginning, that she would be proud of me. She told me that she was really excited, and that she herself saw the change I had undergone. I feel I succeeded.”
“He was heartbroken,” martial arts instructor Boaz Bar eulogized him. “The champion who came from the bottom and didn’t give up. He finished with distinction and made it all the way to the Prime Minister’s office, always with the ambition to advance. Cedric Green, we’ll remember you friend.” He was 23 years old in Naples.
Yuval Lopes
In the late hours of the night, the city officer arrived in Kfar Tapuh and told his wife Siglit that her husband, reserve lieutenant colonel Yuval Lopes, had fallen in the Gaza Strip. She was left alone with 3 little girls, ages 7 months to 3. He has two brothers who are now serving in the fighting – one in Jenin and the other in Gaza.
Yuval immigrated to Israel from Peru at the age of 6, grew up in Alon Shavut and studied at the “Orot Yehuda” high school yeshiva in Efrat.
Major General (resp.) Yuval Lops, the late | Photo: IDF spokesman
The head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, said: “Yuval bravely went out without hesitation to defend the citizens of the State of Israel. He sacrificed himself for the rise of the people of Israel, his heart is broken, but we will continue to stand as a strong rock. We will accompany Siglit and the family always, and do everything in our power to embrace her and the family.”
“Yuval and Siglit are two twin souls, so similar,” Naftali Sikcha, his wife’s cousin, paid tribute to him. “He was an exemplary father. At the beginning of the fighting he served on the northern border, and in the middle of the fighting he was transferred to the south of Gaza. He loved the army and the country. He was the soul of a human being, always helping everyone. Everything I say about him will be small. He loved life. My heart is broken.” . His funeral will take place today in the afternoon at Mount Herzl. 27 years old was in Naples.
Sergey Guntmacher
Maj. Gen. (resp.) Sergey Guntmacher, left behind a widow and two children in Naplo. “With the arrival of the bitter news and the knocking on the door on Krinitsi Street, another family was destroyed, another woman was widowed, more children were orphaned and another wonderful man paid with his life,” the mayor of Ramat paid his respects Gan Carmel Shama HaCohen. “The entire RG bows her head in pain and is torn with grief for the fall of Sergey and will do everything from this moment on to strengthen and hug Marina and the children. Sergey, like the other fallen, will be immortalized and engraved forever in the city he lived in and which he went out to defend with the fervor of his soul. May his memory be blessed.” 37 years old was in Naples.
The late Sergei Guntmacher | Photo: IDF spokesman
Matan to a stranger
At the Shamir Medical Center (Asaf Harofeh) they said goodbye to Major General Matan Lazar, who worked there in the emergency room for 5 years as a nursing brother: “A dedicated and professional brother like no other, with a big heart full of emotion and empathy and a loved and valued team member. Matan guided students and new employees and made sure to educate them in the light of these values. About a year ago he moved to the north with the lovely family he started with Ilana, also a dear nurse who worked for us in the dialysis department. May his memory be blessed.” His funeral will be held today at 2:00 PM in the military section in Haifa. He was 32 years old in Nefo.
The late Matan Lazar | Photo: IDF spokesman
Raphael Elias Moshioff
David Sionov, the father-in-law of Major (acting) Rafael Elias Moshioff of Pardes Hana-Karkur, told the “Morning News” about the last conversation with him: “I spoke with him yesterday at three o’clock, he said that they were cleaning the area. Yesterday, he sent a message that they are not ready to leave until all the terrorists are eliminated.” The 33-year-old was in Noplo.
_OBJ
Nir Binyamin
Nir Binyamin from Givatayim was 29 years old in Nofo. He was born, raised and educated in the city of Tiberias. His relative Aliza Moshe said: “Beloved, talented, sensitive and generous, a genius and kind-hearted. An officer and a gentleman, the dream of every Hebrew mother. A fighter who gave up liberation in order to continue, an only son.” Moshe said that Nir left behind a father, mother, sister and fiancee
Did you find a language mistake?