His name was Rabbi

 He was a hidden child survivor of the Holocaust.  After WWII he moved to Israel where he entered the Israel Defense Forces.  He served in the Golanies in the Israel Army and fought in The Six Day War, The Yom Kipper War and the war in Lebanon.  He also participated in the Raid on Entebbe.  He returned to the Netherlands where he served in the Dutch Army and with the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces in Lebanon.  For their excellence in this endeavor, the Dutch battalion was awarded both the Nobel Prize and Carnegie Award.  

He served in the Queen's Guard of Honor for six years.  He became assistant stable master to Queen Beatrix and taught the present King of Holland, Willem-Alexander, how to ride. After leaving the Dutch Army, he served with the Dutch special Police and retired as Director of Special Police in Groningen.  

Following his retirement he volunteered to work with Groningen City Promotions and presented an event, Country Event, each year.  He later became the team manager for the Dutch Olympic Bobsled Team.  He was a life member of the Gunpowder Creek Regulators in Lenoir, NC and enjoyed SASS shooting.   

It is interesting to note that many of the things this man was involved in were not mentioned in his obituary, for example, he was a member of the Mossad while in Israel but I think one of the most interesting things is, even with all the incredible and amazing things he did during his lifetime, he wanted people to know he was a Life Member of Gunpowder Creek.  I'm not sure we deserve to be listed among all those other accomplishments.

When I retired, this dear friend came to my retirement gathering at the police department and he came up to me after it was all over and handed me the item shown below.  Typical of his quiet nature, he chose to give this to me without making a big fuss in front of everyone else.  It is a medal he had been presented sometime during his career, I later learned it was from Operation Jonathan, a medal he had won for his part in the Raid on Entebbe.  I told him that I couldn't accept such a valuable medal as this but he just smiled and said, "It's ok...I've got two."

That was my / our dear friend, Rabbi.

Horsetrader