Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier)
Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier) · Converts to Judaism
Irish soldier of the British Army present at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen who, in June 1948, drove two Cromwell tanks over to the nascent Israeli army; he converted to Judaism and took the name Michael Peleg
15 mai 1926, Foxford, comté de Mayo, Irlande — 26 janvier 2014, Canada ; inhumé au kibboutz Sha'ar HaAmakim
Irlande, Israël et Canada
Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier) is recognized among Israeli contributors to Converts to Judaism — Irish soldier of the British Army present at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen who, in June 1948, drove two Cromwell tanks over to the nascent Israeli army; he converted to Judaism and took the name Michael Peleg
Origins and early life
Mike Flanagan was born at Foxford in County Mayo, enlisted in the British Army at sixteen, landed in Normandy and was with the unit that took part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen; he then served in Berlin, India and Syria before three years in Mandatory Palestine.
Work and career
In the Haifa garrison left behind in 1948 to evacuate British heavy equipment, he and his Scottish tank commander Harry McDonald met a Haganah agent in a café and, on 29 June 1948, drove two Cromwell tanks out of the retreating garrison and delivered them to Israeli forces in Tel Aviv — the tanks that became the core of the Israeli Armoured Corps, and that stand today at the Latrun memorial. He fought in the 1948 war as a tank driver and was wounded at Iraq al-Manshiyya during Operation Yoav.
Personal life
He settled in Israel, converted to Judaism, took the Hebrew name Michael Peleg and married Ruth Levy, a soldier he had met on service, in a Tel Aviv café with McDonald as best man; they raised two children on kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim, where he worked in the garage and the fields.
Later years
He served as a reservist in 1956, 1967 and 1973, studied agronomy at the Hebrew University and spent years in Africa as an Israeli agricultural emissary; he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valour by the Wiesenthal Center, and is buried at Sha'ar HaAmakim.
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Source: Wikipedia — Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier)
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Irish soldier of the British Army present at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen who, in June 1948, drove two Cromwell tanks over to the nascent Israeli army; he converted to Judaism and took the name Michael Peleg
Source: Wikipedia — Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier)
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