Destiny
everybody has one
Sometimes
when you follow your heart, you change the world.
You are called by a force you do not understand
but cannot resist.
You travel far across continents and great waters
to a land you have never seen...
Urged to protect a people, against all odds,
You arrive at a place you feel is home...
And fulfill an unknown destiny.
That is what happened to Captain Lou Lenart, a pilot for the United States Marines. He returned from World War II and was starting to adjust to civilian life. Then at the end of 1947, a series of events in the news shocks him into realizing that the war is not over. The United Nations announces it will recognize Israel as a national homeland for the Jewish people. The date is set for May 15, 1948, less than six months away. In response, the Arab League declares "a war of extermination" and the armies of Lebanon, Syria, TransJordan, Iraq and Egypt prepare to invade.
Lou’s heart tells him that he cannot stand idly by and allow a new holocaust to occur. So he buys an old plane, rounds up a little team, goes over there, and leads the first mission of the Israel Air Force – a mission that helps prevent disaster.
What happened was totally improbable. But it happened. As the United States Air War College puts it:
“In 1948 Lou Lenart led the first fighter mission of the newly created Israel Air Force. He led an attack against the advancing Egyptian Army, changing the course of the war.”
- The United States Air War College report at the “Gathering of Eagles” Conference, June 9, 2000, Maxwell Air Force Base, Mobile, Alabama.
The link below (YouTube) is a 9-minute video of Lou describing what it was like to fly a rattletrap, Nazi-surplus Messerschmitt against the Egyptian Army, which was about 16 miles away from Tel Aviv and about to conquer the city. (Filmed by Teamworks Studio about 1997.)
You are called by a force you do not understand
but cannot resist.
You travel far across continents and great waters
to a land you have never seen...
Urged to protect a people, against all odds,
You arrive at a place you feel is home...
And fulfill an unknown destiny.
That is what happened to Captain Lou Lenart, a pilot for the United States Marines. He returned from World War II and was starting to adjust to civilian life. Then at the end of 1947, a series of events in the news shocks him into realizing that the war is not over. The United Nations announces it will recognize Israel as a national homeland for the Jewish people. The date is set for May 15, 1948, less than six months away. In response, the Arab League declares "a war of extermination" and the armies of Lebanon, Syria, TransJordan, Iraq and Egypt prepare to invade.
Lou’s heart tells him that he cannot stand idly by and allow a new holocaust to occur. So he buys an old plane, rounds up a little team, goes over there, and leads the first mission of the Israel Air Force – a mission that helps prevent disaster.
What happened was totally improbable. But it happened. As the United States Air War College puts it:
“In 1948 Lou Lenart led the first fighter mission of the newly created Israel Air Force. He led an attack against the advancing Egyptian Army, changing the course of the war.”
- The United States Air War College report at the “Gathering of Eagles” Conference, June 9, 2000, Maxwell Air Force Base, Mobile, Alabama.
The link below (YouTube) is a 9-minute video of Lou describing what it was like to fly a rattletrap, Nazi-surplus Messerschmitt against the Egyptian Army, which was about 16 miles away from Tel Aviv and about to conquer the city. (Filmed by Teamworks Studio about 1997.)