The late Dov Broder and his wife, Batya Broder, 1947. Photo: IDF
i24 News – After 75 years of uncertainty, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has successfully located the burial place of late Chaplain Dov Broder, who lost his life during the “Medina” operation in the War of Independence in 1948.
The remarkable discovery follows a decade-long investigation conducted by the IDF’s branch for locating missing persons.
Chaplain Dov Broder had been interred in an unknown grave in the Segula cemetery in Petah Tikva since May 1948, a period marked by the intense battles of the War of Independence. In 2006, the IDF initiated an investigation to uncover the identity of the individual buried in this grave, marking the beginning of a meticulous and extensive inquiry.
Over the course of 2006 to 2023, various investigative operations were carried out to ascertain the identity of the unknown soldier.
These efforts included the thorough examination of historical documents, testimonies from the time of the battle, interviews with witnesses who participated in the conflict, analysis of the battle’s unfolding, scrutiny of the evacuation process to the ‘Blinson’ hospital, anthropological tests, and more.
Based on the comprehensive findings gathered throughout this lengthy investigation, a nearly complete sequence of events emerged, detailing Dov’s enlistment as an armored driver, the circumstances of the battle, the damage sustained by the armored car, the evacuation to Labinson Hospital, and ultimately, the burial in Segula.
This sequence eventually led to the positive identification of the previously unknown soldier as the late Dov Bruder.
Dov had been an armored driver in the 33rd Battalion of the “Alexandroni” Brigade during Operation “Medina” on May 13, 1948.
Broder lost his life when the armored car he was in came under attack while covering another force. His body was neither located nor identified among the casualties at the time, resulting in his designation as a soldier buried in an unknown grave. This status remained unchanged for 75 years, until the recent conclusion of the investigation.
The news of this breakthrough was conveyed to the late Dov Broder’s family, including his 95-year-old widow, Batya Broder, who had long awaited answers regarding his fate. In the near future, a ceremony will be held to unveil the headstone at the grave, replacing the previous inscription of ‘Anonymous’ with the name of the late Dov.
This development marks the second instance this year in which the IDF’s missing persons branch has successfully concluded an investigation involving soldiers whose burial place had been unknown.
Major General Yaniv Asor, the head of the Human Resources Division, expressed the significance of this discovery, saying, “75 years after the death of the late Dov Broder in the War of Independence, we located his burial place. This is the closing of a circle and the IDF’s and the State of Israel’s moral and ethical debt to Dov, who gave his life for the sake of Israel, to his widow and his family members who lost the most precious to them.”
“The IDF, the Personnel Division, and the Branch for Locating the Missing Persons will continue to do whatever is necessary to determine a state of affairs for the victims whose burial place is not known,” Asor added.
The post IDF Locates Burial Place of Soldier Missing for 75 years first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
