#IsraelIndependenceDay 🇮🇱 this week. Picture #1 is an iconic pic of the capture of Umm Rashrash / Eilat on March 10, 1949.
The flag is called the "ink flag" because the soldiers didn't have one and had to draw one.
The soldier is an Israeli military hero, Avraham "Bren" Adan.
There's a problem. The pic was a re-creation! That explains why the flag and the uniforms looked so good.
Here's the original photo, which I found. It's so much more dramatic, showing the forlorn flag and Umm Rashrash outpost.
Bren Adan fought with the Palmach before Israel's War of Independence. He led forces in 48, 56, 67, & 73 when he fought the Egyptians along the Suez.
With Arik Sharon forces, his tanks captured the Egyptian 3rd Army.
3/
I met Bren (yes, nickname came from the name of a gun) in the 70s when he was military attache in DC.
I sat w him & a US gen at an AIPAC dinner. The two gen's got into it w Bren moving cutlery to describe the battle. Then he drew the battle with a marker on a cloth napkin.
4/
Adan gave the napkin to the US General who said his battle in the Sinai was being taught at West Point. The American was going to give the napkin to his son who was a cadet.
I don't remember if Bren signed it.
Gen Adan died in 2012.
END
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