On Sunday evening, the IDF awarded some of its most prestigious medals to 38 soldiers who fought in the Second Lebanon War. The ceremony took place in the Heichal HaTarbut Cultural Hall in Tel Aviv.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi awarded the medals to officers and soldiers who displayed great heroism during the war. Six of them - including, posthumously, Maj. Ro'i Klein - were awarded the IDF's second-highest award, the Medal of Valor.
Maj. Klein fell on July 26, 2006, in the midst of a battle, when he noticed that Hizbullah terrorists had lobbed a grenade that landed close to his soldiers. With the detonation of the grenade imminent, he leaped and blocked most of the fragmentation from the grenade with his body, thereby saving his troops. His soldiers said that he cried the Jewish prayer "Shma Israel" [Hear O Israel] when he jumped on the grenade.
A Medal of Valor was also awarded to First Sgt. Avichai Yaakov, for the heroism, leadership, initiative and combat spirit he exhibited during the battle in Bint Jbeil on July 26, 2006. Similar awards will be made to Capt. Hanoch Daube, First Sgt. Alon Rotmensh, Lt. Anton Syomin, and First Sgt. Binyamin Asraf.
Twelve soldiers received a third-level medal, known as the Itur HaMofet, roughly corresponding to the Distinguished Service Decoration. Seventeen others, and three units, will receive the "Tzalash HaRamatkal," the Chief of Staff's Honorable Distinction Award.
Among the above awardees will be Dr. Ro'i Singer, a medical doctor in Paratroopers Brigade 890, for his treatment of wounded soldiers in the first two days of the war.
Two weeks from now, another 111 medals, recognizing next-level bravery, will be awarded.