The Battle that shaped Ariel Sharon

[David of Galilee]

Left for dead in 1948: The battle that shaped Arik Sharon
Battalion commander Sharon, 20, was shot in the abdomen and would have died,
but for the heroism of a 16-year-old soldier, wounded himself, who dragged him
through the Latrun killing fields to safety

BY MITCH GINSBURG January 12, 2014, 3:13 pm Times of Israel

The formative moment of Ariel Sharon’s life came in May 1948; not with the Declaration
of Independence – which he heard on the radio wafting out of an open window on his way
to kiss his girlfriend Gali before a mission – but with the battle for Latrun,
11 days later, in which he was left for dead.

Source and Full Article HERE

[Knaur]

The Bulldozer was not only a master soldier and statesman, but also a diplomat.

He was the first Israeli PM to visit India, a huge force behind Indo-Israeli defence ties ;responsible among other things, for lobbying in USA to get India the Phalcon AWACS system and Israel's unconditional help to India in procuring ordinance and intel during the Kargil War.

[AEWHistory]

It is such a shame that Sharon was cut down when he was. Not that he was young so much as at a critical juncture in history. I suppose in many ways I have considered him gone for quote a few years now. I felt like this with my own grandmother. She had Alzheimer's and all her memories of me, my mother, etc. disappeared long before she actually died. She couldn't even speak English at the end! She had reverted to her first language, German, even though English had been her language for nearly 70 years. So the day she died it was weird. I felt like bother much had happened. I know that sounds awful but the person I loved was long gone, just a shell remained. I feel similarly with Sharon. He was a great man but what made him who he was has been gone so long that I feel like his death had already happened.

Regardless, he will be missed terribly. RIP Arik Sharon and condolences to your family.