Lou Lenart, an American fighter pilot who led Israel's air attack against the Egyptians and thus saved Tel Aviv, died on July 20 at age 94 ("Lou Lenart," The Times of Israel, Jul. 21, 2015). Lenart was born into a Jewish family in Hungary, and when he was 10 they moved to the United States. After serving as a Marine pilot in World War II, he volunteered to help smuggle war surplus planes into Israel in early 1948 in preparation for the War of Independence. Two weeks after the nation declared its independence on May 14, a large Egyptian force advanced to within 16 miles of Tel Aviv. Israel decided to gamble its entire "air force" of four Czech planes in an attempt to halt the attack. Caught unawares, having been assured the Israelis had no warplanes, the Egyptians retreated. It was one of the many miraculous things that happened during that and subsequent wars. (Friday Church News Notes, July 31, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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