It was a premonition of the worst kind. A mother who had headed the army’s Wounded Soldiers Department used her connections to fulfill her son’s dream of serving in the Golani Brigade. She did this even though she realized that she herself might one day have to hear the worst news of all. Possessed by her premonition, she recorded her last conversation with her son, not long before Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza began last week. Staff Sgt. Daniel Pomerantz, 20, told his mother Varda he had recorded a farewell message and saved it on his phone in case he never came home. After farewells to family and friends, the young man went out to battle in an outdated armored personnel carrier that was supposed to have been taken out of service. The APC got stuck and, during attempts to free it, was hit by a Hamas anti-tank rocket. That day, 13 Golani soldiers died, many of them in the APC. Thousands of people attended Daniel’s funeral Thursday at Moshav Kfar Azar near Tel Aviv. He was killed on Sunday but he was buried so many days later because Varda insisted that he be buried where he grew up. Bereaved families whom Varda had helped for years came out to console her. Over Daniel’s grave — so far the only grave in this new cemetery — Varda eulogized her son, telling him how after her discharge she had no more strength to support the families of the wounded, missing and fallen. “It is so hard for me to admit here that I knew — yes, beloved boy — I knew all the time that the day would come when the people in uniform who deliver the bad news would knock on our door, too. I never told you. I tried not to tell anyone, and even though I knew, I helped you get into the most elite units — the most dangerous ones,” she said. “Who knows better than you the smile, the tricks, the determination you would use to get me to do things I had never done, that I had never agreed to do in my life, and that I had never believed I would ever do? “For the first time in my life I used my connections so that you, beloved child, would become a high-ranking combat soldier, because you felt it was the right place to be. You became a passionate Golani soldier so very quickly. It was a pleasure to see you so happy and cheerful. You loved your friends from the Golani Brigade with all your soul.” She recalled recording their last conversation. “Since we got to speak on Friday, just before you got into the vehicle – and I felt, not to say knew that you also knew that your hours or days were numbered — I recorded the conversation without your knowledge or permission. And here, over your grave, everyone will be able to hear your voice for the last time.” Varda then played the recording of the conversation with her son. Daniel told her where she would be able to find his last words in case anything happened to him. When she asked whether he wanted to share then what he had said in that message, he said: “No. That’s in case .... I’d rather not.” She answered calmly: “Ah, okay. With God’s help, it won’t happen.” After Daniel’s death, his family received his phone, and over his grave, his mother read out the message he had written. “My beloved family, I never thought I would write anything like this. I don’t know what to write. It’s important that you know that I am glad I was born to this family. I am happy I enlisted in the Golani Brigade. If you are reading this, it means I have finished my career, but at least I fought honorably and I am happy. You can be sure I am happy,” he wrote. “To my perfect siblings: No one is happier than I that I have siblings like you, and to my two parents: I never lacked anything, ever. I was always surrounded by warmth and love .... I’m just happy, no matter what happened. I love you very, very much. With God’s help we’ll come back safely; tell my soldiers I love them.” Varda promised to give the staff sergeant’s men the message. “I have the rare opportunity to raise my right hand in a salute to Ohad, the company commander,” she added, referring to Daniel’s commanding officer. “And so, on the 13th day of Operation Protective Edge, you 13 soldiers of the 13th Battalion fell because you could only go in on a paper tiger,” she said, referring to the decision to send men into battle in an outdated APC instead of a more modern one called the Tiger — Namer in Hebrew. “And in a single second, everything just ended. How fortunate, my son, that you thought of writing to us. I understand why God wanted you to be with him.”
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 23:06:05 +0000
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