Hundreds of Israelis Attend Soldier's Funeral

Jerusalem, 19 January, 2017 (TPS) -- Hundreds of Israelis came to the Rishon Lezion military cemetery to pay their last respects to Corporal Wachislav (Slava) Gregai, who was killed in a training accident on the Golan Heights yesterday.

He and his mother, new immigrants from Ukraine, have no family in Israel. His father, who remained in Ukraine is bedridden, and could not attend the funeral.

His mother, who feared there would not be anyone there apart from her and a few of his friends from his unit, asked the public to attend. Hundreds of Israelis, who did not know the family responded to her request, and came to the funeral.

Slava served as a technician in a repair unit, and was killed while working on a Namir APC.

His commander, Lt. Col Adi Ganon described him as an outstanding soldier, conscientious and professionally competent. “He was about to realize his dream of becoming an officer, and had already been accepted for officer training”, he said.