Infantry soldier A spent his 21st birthday at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. He’s glad to be alive.
A, the personal guard and driver of a senior military commander, and two other infantry soldiers were helivaced to the Ein Kerem landing strip after a roadside bomb exploded. They were accompanying a unit seeking out booby traps and unexploded rockets in the infamous Shuja’iya quarter of Gaza City. When the roadside bomb exploded, A threw himself on top of his commanding officer to protect him. A’s face, including his eye, was hit by propelled shrapnel. The commander was unhurt.
“When a bomb explodes, there’s zero time to think,” said A. “I reacted on instinct. The commander has huge responsibilities — brigade commanders report to him — and I needed to protect him.”
Although A thought he was blind after the blast, after examination and treatment, he is able to see in both eyes and will be returning home. “It might not have been my birthday dream, but surviving the blast is a wonderful gift,” says the tall, dark and handsome soldier in the plastic surgery department on the 7th floor of the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower. His high school sweetheart, D, also a soldier, was on her base when she received the terrifying news of the injury her boyfriend of five years had sustained.
A and D were happily reunited and inseparable at the hospital, and joined by A’s mom, Nili, a traffic police officer in Beersheba. A’s family lives in an agricultural village in the south and has been serving in infantry units throughout the war. The middle of three children, A’s mom says, “he’s the one I spoil the most.” Delighted to return home, mom and son show off the matching tattoos that declare their mutual affection. A will return to the hospital for further treatment.
D recently celebrated a birthday, and she and A have a lot to celebrate.
