Days of Lead. Moshe Rashkes

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      Moshe Rashkes

      Days OF Lead

      Defying Death During Israel’s War of Independence

      Foreword by Senator (Ret.) Max Cleland

      Preface by Arik Rashkes

      Days of Lead

      Defying Death During Israel’s War of Independence

      Copyright © 2018 by Moshe Rashkes and Arik Rashkes.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be sent by e-mail to Apollo Publishers at [email protected].

      Apollo Publishers books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Special editions may be made available upon request. For details, contact Apollo Publishers at [email protected].

      Visit our website at www.apollopublishers.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

      Cover design by Rain Saukas.

      Cover image copyright © 2018 by National Photo Collection, Israel.

      Print ISBN: 978-1-948062-02-2

      Ebook ISBN: 978-1-948062-09-1

      Printed in the United States of America.

      In memory of my parents,

      Golda and Ariye Leib.

      Contents

       Foreword

       Preface

      Chapter 1: The Hill

      Chapter 2: The Camp

      Chapter 3: The Convoy

      Chapter 4: The Trap

      Chapter 5: The Road to Jerusalem

      Chapter 6: Sight

      Chapter 7: Night

      Chapter 8: The Stains

      Chapter 9: The Few

      Chapter 10: Nightmare

      Chapter 11: The Order

      Chapter 12: A Fading Twilight

      Foreword

      By Senator (Ret.) Max Cleland

      It was a great honor for me to be asked to pen an introduction to this important book, which received excellent reviews and was printed in Israel in nine editions.

      The greatness of this book is to be found in its atmosphere, which enables readers to identify deeply with the author, as if they themselves were on the battlefield, experiencing the terrible pain and sensation of loss.

      As a combatant in 1968, I lost both legs and an arm in the Vietnam War. The US government awarded me Bronze and Silver Stars for valorous actions in combat. Following my rehabilitation, I felt the need to serve the American public, first as secretary of state for Georgia, and later as a US senator.

      So why am I writing about this particular book? Not just because Moshe Rashkes is a close personal friend, or because the book’s subject matter is close to my heart and my difficult life experiences. It seems that every meeting with the Angel of Death, and every escape from his clutches, lead to enormous changes in the soul of an individual. For most, these changes result in a desire to make things better for humanity and, in wartime, to help one’s fellow combatants.

      Moshe followed the same path as I did. Even while hospitalized, following his war injuries, he was among the originators of the Israel Disabled War Veterans Organization, fighting for the rights of injured veterans. Later, after eight years as chairman of this organization, he joined the founders of the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled (ISCD) in Ramat Gan, which became a pioneering sports center for disabled individuals. He served as director of the ISCD for thirty-seven years, and then as chairman in a voluntary capacity for many more years.

      I followed a similar path, first as secretary of state for Georgia, then as administrator of the United States Veterans Administration, serving wounded veterans, then as senator for Georgia, fighting—among other things—for the social rights of the disabled and, finally, as secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

      I find a strong similarity between this book and my own book, Strong at the Broken Places, written after my own terrible war injuries.

      These two books, in my opinion, complete and complement each other. Moshe’s book clearly articulates the sensation of pain and the feeling of approaching death, while my book describes overcoming life-changing shock and loss. Both ultimately celebrate triumph and the power of the human spirit. It is important for every person to know about these things, especially the world’s leaders, in whose hands world peace—or war—rests.

      The uniqueness of this book is that it gives the reader a precise and realistic view of the horrors of war, and the feelings of the individual who is engulfed by it.

      preface

      by Arik Rashkes

      Moshe Rashkes is a war hero, a humanitarian hero, a successful author, and one of the founders of the state of Israel. He is also my father.

      My father and his family fled Poland in the late 1920s, due to the increasing number of pogroms and growing anti-Semitism. He was only two years old when his family arrived, with very little money and very few possessions, at the shore of what was then Palestine. They moved to Tel Aviv, where life in the 1930s was far from easy. The family lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, worked double shifts, and went hungry most days—but they felt relatively safe. News from Europe came in sporadically and it carried unimaginable horror, initially from ghettos and later from death camps, and, sadly, included the news that most members of the Rashkes family who had stayed in Poland were either missing—or gone.

      As a youngster, my father and his