Last update - 00:00 25/05/2007
Former pilot seeks 200 Israeli WWII veterans of the Royal Navy
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Zvi Avidror, a former air force pilot who served in the British Royal Navy during World War II, is looking for about 200 veterans of that war who served with him, to hold a medals ceremony.
Last Friday, Avidror ran a small ad on the back page of one of the newspapers. "Veterans of the Royal Navy who served in 1939-1946 should send their names, addresses and HMX numbers to fax 03-6422480 ahead of a medal ceremony," it stated.
The story began last December, when the Israeli veterans organization dissolved and donated its assets to the construction of a World War II veterans museum at Moshav Avihayil north of Netanya. Avidror and a few of his comrades in arms from his navy days decided to create a new organization just for wartime sailors.
Who are the British naval veterans in Israel? For one thing, they are almost all from Haifa. The Royal Navy recruitment base Morta was located in that coastal city. "It was all the rage then to enlist in the Royal Navy," Avidror recalls. Some of the naval veterans went on to become famous, including two who did basic training with Avidror. One was businessman and shipping tycoon Sammy Ofer and the other was the late Dahn Ben-Amotz. "Sammy was a good soldier, me less so," Avidror says. "His father told me to watch out for him, but I knew he would be looking out for me."
In total, 1,100 Jewish settlers served in the Royal Navy in the '40s but Avidror and his friends have an outdated list that includes just 430 names. They sent the list to national phone company Bezeq in search of up-to-date phone numbers. They found 110 names in the phone book.
They also contacted the British Embassy's naval and air attache, Mike Rafferty. They explained the organization they were founding and told him that most of these people did not receive medals for their service, and they would like "to set that up." Rafferty got on board immediately. He immediately wrote the British Ministry of Defense, which includes the Admiralty, and received an immediate enthusiastic response. The Royal Navy would be happy to provide a few hundred medals against a list of the veterans and the HMX identification numbers they were issued by the Royal Navy upon enlisting in Haifa.
Encouraged by the cooperation from London, Avidror and his peers approached Israel's Ministry of Defense's decorations unit. Military headquarters were also enthusiastic and replied that if they could get all the veterans together, deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh would attend the ceremony and award the veterans Israeli medals issued to commemorate 60 years since victory over the Nazis.
Despite the encouraging developments, the primary problem facing the enterprise is still finding another 100 veterans. They have already contacted the 110 names that appear in the phone directory, and most are still alive. Widows and children of those already deceased were excited about the initiative and asked to receive posthumous medals.
The advertisement has so far engendered only nine responses.
Zvi Avidror can already imagine the festive ceremony at the British ambassador's residence, but he would like to find at least 200 veterans - any less, he will consider failure.
"A ceremony at the ambassador's residence will bring all the veterans - no one will miss it," he says. "My last chance is the media."
Avidror sits in his study in Ramat Aviv passionately recounting his war stories, his service on an aircraft carrier, missions in North Africa and the time militants from the Muslim Brotherhood tried to assassinate him in Alexandria in the '40s. The walls are covered in photos of his service in the Royal Navy, the Haganah and the Israel Air Force. The sparkle in his eyes reveals how important this mission is to the 82-year-old. "This may be the last time this group can be happy," he says. "Not so many things are happy at this time of life. I want to bring the sparkle back to their eyes one last time."