Last update - 00:00 11/10/2007
Israeli WWII veterans honored for service to Royal Navy
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Nearly 200 Israeli sailors who served in the British Royal Navy during World War II gathered Wednesday at the home of the British ambassador to Israel who, together with Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, awarded them the Veterans Badge to commemorate the victory over the Nazis.
The ceremony was held at the Ramat Gan home of Ambassador Tom Phillips. As the former sailors trickled into the house, they were greeted by the embassy's naval and air attache, Wing Commander Mike Rafferty, and Zvi Avidror, himself a former Royal Navy pilot and the main force behind the reunion. For Rafferty, who this weekend returns to London to prepare for his next assignment in Kabul, the event was a kind of ending. "It's very exciting to see the looks on the faces of the veterans getting the medals," Rafferty said. "It was worth having the event just for that."
The gathering began with a small advertisement placed by Avidror and a few friends in Yedioth Ahronoth in May that called on Royal Navy veterans to contact him. There were a few responses, but after Haaretz took up the story nearly 170 veterans heeded the call to action.
Popular tunes from the 1940s played in the ambassador's yard as old comrades reconnected. Alfred Wasch, 93, was a maintenance officer at the Royal Navy base in Bat Galim, which was one of the largest in the Mediterranean.
Much of his service was spent taking care of seven intelligence ships kept by the Royal Navy in the region. "How're you doing, do you remember me?" fellow veteran Israel Gruber asked him. "You were my commanding officer. You look great."
If there is one song that is identified more than all others with the Royal Navy, it is "It's a Long Way to Tipperary." When the pianist began to play it, the veterans joined in enthusiastically.
On the other side of the yard sat Tova Goldin, holding a black-and-white photograph of what looks like dozens of sailors, including her husband, Yosef. Next to her sat David Rosenberg, who is also in the photo. When Phillips approached to shake their hands, they explained that their respective children married each other, unaware that their fathers had served in the same unit during World War II. "My father stopped sleeping, he was so excited about this gathering," Rosenberg's daughter, Idit, said. "Me, excited?" Rosenberg said in response. "I didn't even think about it."
Annie Geddes-Riks, another veteran, was born in England and immigrated to Israel in 1948, unlike most of her fellow sailors. She served in various positions in the navy. "I insisted on doing non-office work. I remember fixing aircraft engines to ready them for D-Day," she said