Ben Moche - April 24, 2009
Enlistment in the Army
Yeah. So you grew up, you went to the army when you were what, 16 years old?
Uh, I went to the army when I was 17 and a half.
Seventeen and a half, okay. And you uh, lived in Israel?
I lived in Israel, been, been in one war in '67...
'67.
???
You were in the '67 War?
Right.
What was that like if I may ask?
Well, there was sad, there was happy.
Mm-hm.
Okay, I mean, the sadness was there uh, you left some people that you knew, not that I was a big fighter or things like that, a big hero, you know. But we got, well, it goes back uh, how all this started, you know. They kept people over there and, you know, because they thought it's gonna be a war, you know.
Mm-hm.
And then they released everybody, you know. And then I, I, I'm at work and like around 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock I hear uh, I hear my signal, you know, my secret code.
To be called up to uh, at duty uh, active duty?
Right.
For the, the signal, uh-huh.
Right.
Okay.
Right, and we know when they say that that we have to be in a certain place.
Uh-huh, okay.
And I, I got out of there and I took a cab and, and, and, and on the Arabic stations, which I speak a little bit of it, used to speak better. Uh, the Egyptian said took over Tel Aviv already.
Oh.
And I was in Tel Aviv driving, you know, and they're raping Israeli girls and things like that. And then, you know, believe it or not, three hours later we were right on the border of Gaza, you know, and things like that. One of our guys got killed, you know, just going in to the trench. Um, the most fascinating thing was when the airplanes uh, went and bombed Gaza, you know. And, and uh, and evidently they came from the side of Jerusalem because it's not that far, you know. Not in air, and there were uh, you know they were flapping their wings like saying hello.
Mm-hm.
You know, coming, flapping their wings. And, and, and then on the radio we, we, we heard of their--they took over Jerusalem.
Uh-huh.
And, and, and they were playing the song "Jerusalem of Gold"...
Ah.
Because the, the song was written before the '67 War. This was a most fascinating thing, you know.
It was very special, very...
Right. And then, and then we were in Gaza, you know, and, and we were sleeping in schools and it was unbelievable the, the, the pictures on the wall over there, you know. To show the Israeli is a snake...
Oh.
You know, we want to kill them all and things like that. And uh, and, you know, it's amazing to say that because uh, because American people uh, some American people think that all the Arabs are bad.
Mm-hm.
And it's not true, I mean, yeah if you want to go back to the Bible and if you want to go back to that, yeah. But if you want to go back to reality, you know uh, when we went to Gaza those people ran away to the field and when they came back, you know. And, and, you know, and came out of the fields, you know, with the, the Red Cross or whatever they call it, the White Cross or whatever it is. They had cucumbers and a girl came and gave me some cucumbers.
Huh.
You know. So, why would you give your enemy, right? So uh, not all of them are bad.
Mm-hm.
You know. Uh, you know, but was a good feeling.
Mm-hm.
The, the, the, there was a good feeling of power, you know, there was a good feeling there. Um, we got out of there fast, I mean, we didn't stay, I mean, you know, the whole war took like a week...
Yeah, yeah.
You know. Yeah, the war took a week, ??? but then we got released like a week and a half, you know, we got home, you know.
Mm-hm.
No more war.
Back to Ramle.
Back, back, back to normal, you know.
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