The 54th disaster

The 54th disaster

(named after the victims of the disaster, the disaster – 54 in Gematria) was an air accident that happened on May 10, 1977, in which an Israeli Air Force helicopter crashed during an exercise in the Jordan Valley. 54 IDF soldiers were killed: 44 soldiers and officers from the paratrooper brigade, soldiers of Battalion 890 and 10 air crew members, the helicopter crews and other air crew members who participated in the flight as part of the operational training for the attack.

The disaster happened 6 kilometers north of Jericho, near the settlement of Yatb and the Palestinian village of Ujah al-Tata. Several minutes after takeoff, the helicopter descended until it hit the hillside and crashed. All the soldiers were killed. After the commander of the brigade, Col. Amos Yaron, learned of the disaster that occurred, he ordered that the exercise should continue because incidents of this type may occur in war and are not a reason to stop troop movements

The governmental naming committee decided to name the hill, on which the disaster occurred, “The 54th Hill” in memory of the 54 fallen, was erected at the top of the hill. The monument was established at the initiative of the bereaved families, and was designed by the painter Aryeh Moskovich. The National Israel Fund and the Jordan Valley Regional Council with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense.

The municipalities of Ramat Gan and Bat Yam called public gardens the “54th Garden”, and in Holon “Gan Yas’ur” was established in their memory. The elementary school in the town of Ma’ale Ephraim in the Jordan Valley, located near the site of the disaster and the memorial, is named after the “54th disaster”. In the city of Rehovot, the “House of the Five” was established, a community center in memory of the five citizens of the city who fell in the disaster. In 2016, a bridge was built on road 411 over a railway junction between the city of Rehovot and the city of Yavne. The bridge was named “The Evil Bridge – in memory of the 54th”.

My father’s uncle, the late Menachem Avidar
was one of the fighters who perished in this disaster