Chief of Staff Citation and Medals of Distinguished Service and Courage
Army to bestow 142 war citations
Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi signs off on list of recipients deemed eligible by special committee. 'Alongside the failures that arose during the war, and which are still being studied, there are also many stories of courage and valor. We must not forget these things,' says military official
IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi authorized the final list of soldiers who fought in the Second Lebanon War and were found eligible to receive citations.
Of the hundreds of recommendations that poured in from the various IDF units after the war – the final list is composed of only 142 names, of these only 34 officers and soldiers will be awarded their citation from the chief of staff himself. Ashkenazi will also award four citations posthumously to the families of the fallen soldiers.
Twenty of the 38 citations awarded by Ashkenazi are Chief of Staff Citations, 12 are Medals of Distinguished Service and six are Medals of Courage.
The remainder of the citations (104 in number) will be presented to recipients by command heads, division commanders and brigade commanders.
The army staved off authorizing the citations until the bereaved families had all received copies of the military's various inquiries into the war and their results.
The reasons for each individual choice were detailed in documents sent out to the various army units
"Alongside the failures that arose during the war, and which are still being studied thoroughly, there are also many stories of heroism, of courage and valor and actions that soldiers, in doing so, sacrificed their lives.
"We must not forget these things; we cannot only talk about what was wrong when there were also so many positive things. There are many soldiers who deserve much more than a good word and that is why this committee was formed," said a military official.
The recipients and the bereaved families of decorated casualties will receive a formal announcement Wednesday morning.
