Alvin Levy, the son of Mildred and Shlomo, was born in Long Beach, New Beach, NY on 30th July 1918. During World War II he served as a flight engineer in the US Air Force based in England, and participated in many bombing raids over Germany.
At the beginning of Israel’s War of Independence, leaving his wife and daughter behind he came to Israel to contribute his knowledge and experience in the service of his nation’s air force. He performed his duties as a volunteer with strength and devotion to the very best of his ability.
On 7th December 1948, he was part of the crew when Canadian pilot Ralph Moster was practicing with instructor Oliver Holton on a Grumman Widgeon seaplane for water take-offs and landings on the Sea of Galilee. Their plane was badly damaged on a landing when it hit the mirror-smooth water with great force. The plane sank in about twenty minutes, and all aboard drowned.
Alvin Levy was buried in Tiberias, and later re-interred in the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery.
On 29th September 1949, on the orders of the chief of staff, he was posthumously promoted to Flight Commander.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf