Nathan Elbaz - Biography

Nathan Elbaz, (17 October 1932 – 11 February 1954) – Israel Defense Forces Soldier that sacrificed his life for his friends, receiving for this the Medal of Distinguished Service. Elbaz was born in Safro, Morocco and left his family to emigrate to Israel as part of Aliyat Hanoar ("Youth Aliyah").

Elbaz was inducted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1952 and served in the Infantry Corps. On 11 February 1954, while disassembling hand grenades, a routine task he was entrusted with, a grenade was accidentally activated. He immediately called on his friends to take shelter, but when he saw that there was no way to throw the grenade without endangering them, he ran away from them while pressing it to his chest and was thus killed. For this action he received a posthumous citation from the chief of staff Moshe Dayan. The citation was replaced with the Medal of Distinguished Service.