veterans, the lads from the Land of Israel, with plenty of experience from more than ten months of war.
It is not easy to say what makes them stand out. But if you meet one you notice immediately: that is one. They are men who reject all order and discipline and who for this very reason are promoted. They have their own humor, they have guts. And that means a taste for adventure. Apart from that they have an enviable tolerance for suffering. But, as I said, you can’t talk about them in the plural. Only the singular is applicable.
Take, for example, my friend Shalom Cohen. Shalom comes from a little kibbutz of Hashomer Hatzair.3 He was born in this land but spent a large part of his youth in Egypt where he enjoyed a British high school education.
He looks as though he has just stepped out of a Western. On his head he wears a strange Australian hat. Around his neck an Arab headscarf, and from his belt hangs a splendid Luger, which swings against his thigh at each step. He has also picked up an impressive map case somewhere. But if you look into it, you’ll only find a map of Ramie, although we are on the southern front. He just hasn’t found a map of our area yet. Is that showing off?
But that is only one side of him. Beyond that Shalom belongs, like me, to the founding members of Samson’s Foxes and has a good fifty or sixty battles under his belt. In none of these was he ever seen to be frightened or even nervous.
* * *
Aryeh Langmann is quite different. He was a member of Aryeh Kotzer’s legendary company, was wounded twice, and came with us to the Foxes. He too now belongs to our new company. His body contains some shell splinters.
The squad Aryeh was allocated consists of wild immigrants from Morocco, who have already "worn out" several squad leaders. Nobody really expected him to get his squad under control. He is not capable of shouting, and his orders sound more like modest requests. One day, after he and his squad had taken over a position, they were attacked by the Egyptians who had approached in a wadi to as near as thirty yards. Aryeh advanced - alone - against the attackers, with a hand grenade in each hand. Since then his people have followed him.
* * *