Matin Davidovich's headstone
Matin Davidovich's headstoneIDF Spokesperson

After 73 years, the body of Martin Davidovich, Israel's first fallen paratrooper, has been located.

Davidovich died during a training accident in Czechoslovakia. His remains were located today (Monday) in the Jewish cemetery in Prague, the Czech capital. after a lengthy search. The remains will be brought to Israel for reburial.

Davidovich was a Holocaust survivor who survived the Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps. Following the end of World War II he joined the Czech Brigade, which trained soldiers for the state of Israel in Czechoslovakia in 1948.

He was killed during a training exercise in August 1948 when a Cezch officer shot him in the head. The officer claimed that he did not know the weapon was loaded. Davidovich was 21-years-old at the time of his death.