L’Chaim – to Life: Alan Jackson
Maurice Klein speaks with Alan Jackson. He was Sgt Major Alan Jackson in the IDF Tzanchanim (Paratroopers) under the command of Mordechai (Matta) Gur, and was one of the first soldiers in the IDF to reach the Kotel in the 1967 Six Day War. Alan recounts how his 66th Battalion suffered heavy losses in the trench-to-trench, hand-to-hand battle for the taking of Ammunition Hill and then again incurred more heavy losses of his mates when leading the way in the urban warfare for the taking of Jerusalem.
The IDF’s Rabbi Goren was initially unable to blow the Shofar when reaching the Kotel at the same time as Alan. Guess who was given the kavod and stepped in? We hear from Alan that Rabbi Goren wanted the Al-Aqsa Mosque blown up, only to be outranked and blocked by Moshe Dayan.
We were honoured to have Sgt Major Alan Jackson join us on L’Chaim -To Life and recount his personal story and events on this day and yesterday – fifty-six years ago in the Six-Day War, when Jerusalem and the Kotel were back where they belonged and they were Israel’s again, FOREVER.
