While we are still questioning him, the last jeep appears. Janek is driving. The jeep is fully loaded with people. Janek tells us how he saw something happen to the jeep in front. So he drove round it. But he didn’t see any people. On the way to the kibbutz he came across some wounded from the first company, and took them on board. We have a look at the wounded. Kotzer and Moshe are not among them.
We send Janek with the wounded on to Sawafir. When he is gone a strange stillness falls. We all know what the situation is without having to talk about it. It is quarter past five. Within half an hour the sun will rise.
The awful fear I felt earlier returns. But my mouth says: " A jeep must go back. Who is coming?" "I will" says Yaakov Velichkovski, the dark-haired squad leader. A discussion starts. Should one jeep go or two? They talk about shells. I have a look at the damaged jeep. That doesn’t look like a shell to me. The jeep was damaged from below. That is the work of a land mine. And without a doubt, where there is one mine, there will be others.
"We need a driver" says Yaakov. No answer. A pity that Janek drove on to Sawafir. He would have come for sure. Minutes pass. Suddenly a civilian speaks up. "You need a driver?" he asks quietly. "I’ll do it." Can he drive a jeep? He smiles. He is a bus driver.
We jump in. Then another jeep appears at the gate. Joseph Segal is sitting in it. He is the commander of the auxiliary company, and currently deputy battalion commander. We
quickly explain the situation to him. "You will all return immediately to Sawafir" he orders. We are horrified. Back to Sawafir. Now? And then we follow his gaze. On the horizon we see a light silvery stripe.
We lost two comrades, both of whom were something special. Moshe Vanzover, the quartermaster of the company, was with us in almost every action from the first day on, without being obliged to do so, and without anyone asking him. And Aryeh Kotzer, the man who had led countless assaults at the head of his men, a man whose name had long since become a symbol and a legend on the whole front. How can it hap-pen that a bullet, a piece of shrapnel, or amine puts an end to a life like this?
... and the fighting continued. A battalion captured Tel al-Safi, a