Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Remembrance Day, commemorates those who fought and sacrificed themselves for the State of Israel. It is not only Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terror that are commemorated, however, but also POW's (Prisoners of War) whose unique stories can help inspire the Jewish people.
Col. Amnon Sharon, who was a tank commander for the IDF during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, wrote a book entitled Sane in Damascus (Gefen). In it, he describes his experience as a POW in Syria and how he managed to come back home to Israel and tell his story. Sharon recently shared his experiences with Israel National Radio's Tamar Yonah (click here to listen to the full interview).
The narrative starts on the morning of Yom Kippur 1973, when at the brink of the Yom Kippur war, Amnon Sharon and his reserve company of seven tanks headed into the Golan Heights - seven tanks alone against approximately 100 Syrian tanks. At the end of the battle, Sharon explains, "five of my soldiers were killed; most were wounded, including me, from the explosion of the tanks. I was then captured by the Syrians. By evening, I was in Damascus."
In describing some of his experiences in captivity, Sharon admits, "it is hard for me to talk about it now. For five months, I was alone in a small, dark, and cold cell with only my underwear where they used Inquisition-style instruments to beat and torture me." In relating one of the gruesome interrogations he faced, Sharon recalls how he was asked what the word merkava (Israeli tank) means: "I didn't know what merkava was at that time. It did not exist. I told them they were chariots with horses, and that we don't use them today. This joke almost cost me my life. The investigator ran up to me with a knife and put it in my back."
Looking back at his time as a POW, Sharon expresses regret that at that time, soldiers did not receive proper training in dealing with the situations one faces as a POW. "Now special units are getting special training", he says, "but in the [regular] army, there is still no training for this."
Sharon does not consider himself religious, but he relates a deep belief in G-d when describing the ways in which he kept himself sane those five months. "I started to build methods of surviving," says Sharon. "I prayed three times a day, and when I finished my prayer, I heard a voice inside saying 'keep on going because G-d is with you.' I believe that G-d was with me the whole time I was there."
After five months of captivity, Sharon finally realized he was not alone when his captivators reunited him with 24 of his fellow officers who were also POWs. "We made a community," describes Sharon. "Everyone told his story to the other."
When asked what message he wants people to take away from Yom HaZikaron, Sharon responds, "People have to remember that the soldiers who were killed were killed so that all the other people here will live in peace and safety. They were not killed for nothing."