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The Oz 77 Memorial in the Valley of Tears

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עונות

The visit: Park your car in the parking lot, descend to the memorial, and look down at the beautiful valley and the Syrian border. Try to imagine how the soldiers of the 77^th Battalion felt when they saw hundreds of Syrian tanks moving towards them.

Arrival: Drive on Road 98; at the entrance to Kibbutz El-Rom, turn east (the opposite side of the kibbutz), and drive on a paved road. After about 1.5 kilometers, turn left at the fork in the road, and drive for another 1.5 kilometers, until you reach a parking lot near the memorial.

*Throughout the Golan, there are many IDF historical sites that include memorials, trenches, and bunkers. These are all silent witnesses to the terrible battles that took place in the Golan, in which IDF soldiers defended the State of Israel at the risk of their lives. For a map of memorials in the Golan, press here.

General Background:

The 7th Recon Unit is the mechanized reconnaissance company of the 7th Armored Brigade of the IDF. This is a mobile unit that travels in jeeps and APCs (armored personnel carriers), and whose mission is supplying real-time intel to the 7th Brigade Command.

The friends of the fallen soldiers of this unit, as well as their families, all established this memorial in their memory; it was here that many fell in battle.

The Memorial:

This monument memorializes soldiers of the unit who fell in all of Israel’s wars and battles. It is made out of cement, and in the center is a damaged APC with the unit’s insignia in black metal. The names of the fallen soldiers are on the metal sheets that were placed nearby. The memorial was built with an APC in the center, in order to show how the unit moves while they are on a mission. It was placed on a white stand to give honor to both the unit and the individual soldiers. The size of the memorial is a sign of the unit’s strength and power.

Adjacent to the memorial is a pleasant grove of trees for rest and recreation, with picnic tables, and cement surfaces for camping. The memorial is situated on the Golan Trail, and the area has been designated as a campsite for hikers.