Lt. Col. (res.) Noam Ron, who was killed Tuesday when his Cobra helicopter crashed near Revadim, was buried Wednesday at the civilian cemetery at Morasha. He left behind a widow and three daughters.
Earlier Wednesday, the second pilot who was in the helicopter, Maj. (res.) Erez Flexer, was laid to rest in the cemetery at Herzliya. Flexer left behind a widow and a baby who was a few months old.
In the course of Noam Ron's funeral, his brother, Yoni Ron, read a letter that the pilot had left with his comrades at the squadron, to be read to his parents if he were ever killed in action.
"Dad and Mom, if you are reading these words, something must have happened to me," he wrote. "I always hoped that if I die, it would be for an important cause, and in the course of carrying out the activity that I love very much, and apparently this came true," he wrote.
In the letter, which he wrote on July 24, 2006, Noam Ron made reference to the tragic death of his younger brother, Eyal, years earlier. "I am going to meet Eyal, whom I miss very much," he wrote. "For you, this will be a second blow, and I really feel sorry for you. Try to do everything in order to bring back the smile and the joy to your lives. Keep looking at the full half of the glass and know that there is nothing Eyal and I want more than for you to be happy."
"Despite the terrible difficulty, please make every effort to bring that smile back into your home, and to continue to live lives that are as happy as possible. After all I went to fight so that the lives of Israelis in general, and yours in particular, would be joyful. I reached the level I did thanks to the education, the encouragement and the values you instilled in me."