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Ryan Jones is a Gentile believer from the United States who has lived and worked in Israel for the past six years. He is the News Editor of .
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By Ryan Jones
February 6, 2003
Courtesy of Jerusalem Newswire.
Webster's Dictionary defines the word "hero" as a "man admired for his achievements and noble qualities; one that shows great courage."
Ilan Ramon embodied the perfect mixture of traits that make up a true hero - courage, selflessness, and, perhaps most noble of all, humility.
He made an unintentional display of what a hero truly is over the past several weeks as he carried the hopes and dreams of all Israelis into mankind's final frontier. Surprisingly, his heroic characteristics were not less during his younger years, when, as an ace fighter pilot, he helped to preserve his nation's future.
Israeli television broadcast on Sunday a formerly classified interview conducted with IAF pilot Ilan Ramon immediately following his return from bombing Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
The Israeli Air Force usually shies away from revealing the identities of its pilots, but following the tragic death of Ramon, along with his six American crewmates, when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart Saturday, this was sadly no longer a consideration.
The mannerisms and comments of the youthful looking Ramon, still sitting in his jumpsuit in the cockpit of an F-16, further solidified the image of a hero he had exuded over the past several weeks.
The Osirak mission was a dangerous - and at the time controversial - endeavor the benefits of which have only now been fully realized by a quietly thankful West.
Ramon was the youngest pilot chosen for the mission, and prior to that had no operational combat experience.
"Ilan was only a captain, but we knew he was the right choice for the job. He was cool-headed, modest, sort of a humble hero - not like most macho top-gun flyers," Major General Amos Yadlin, a veteran of the mission, said in an interview with Reuters on Sunday.
Yadlin conveyed how Ramon had volunteered to fly in the rear of the attack formation, the spot most vulnerable to enemy retaliation.
"It was simple for Ilan. He said, 'I'm not married, I don't have kids, why not?'"
Yadlin said that Ramon further justified his choice by telling how his parents had been Holocaust survivors and that if he could "prevent a second Holocaust; I'm ready to sacrifice my life for this."
His words, Yadlin noted, were not an empty show of bravery.
"Our assessment while preparing for the attack was that one or two of the planes would be hit. We were truly worried when we took off."
His selfless dedication and willingness to do whatever needed to protect his people while seeking no glory for himself, sets Ramon in a class by himself in an age where public idols rarely possess so entirely the true qualities of a hero.
At a time when Israel and the world need true heroes, the memory of Ilan Ramon alone should be sufficient to inspire the kind of humble courage he displayed to the very end of his short life.
Views expressed by the author do not
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