Leonard Cohen, the son of Bella and Shalom-Sol Cohen, was born in Liverpool, England, on 28th August 1919. His mother was one of the first activists in the Women’s Zionist Movement, while his father was one of the first British participants in early Zionist congresses. His Zionist parents moved to Palestine on 9th March 1924, and lived in Haifa.
After completing elementary school he went on to study at the “Reali” High School. He was also a member of a scout troop called “The Carmel Wanderers.”
From stories told by his friends and from his notes of that period, it appears that from his earliest years he was gifted with unusual and special characteristics.
One of his friends wrote: “His eyes would sparkle with bright mischievous laughter. From the day he was born his talented, dynamic personality was apparent. He had an iron will and was a hard nut to crack, very tough material for his parents and his teachers. Also during his time with the scouts, his friends would tell of his youthful ability to express his opinions accurately, always hit the target and influence them even at an early age.”
His parents sent him to England to complete his education in Liverpool, where he completed high school and started his studies at university. He excelled as a public speaker and once verbally defeated an anti-Semitic street agitator. He was sent as a delegate to the British Youth Congress. At the university he trained with the local cadet officers. In the summer of 1938, he came home to his parents for the holidays and enjoyed spending time as a watchman in the Carmel Forest.
In September 1939 he was ready to take his final examinations, but World War II broke out and interrupted his plans. He gave it all up and volunteered for the army. He served for two years in the South Lancashire Regiment, firstly as a second lieutenant and later as a full lieutenant.
Dissatisfied with serving in the ground forces, he applied for a transfer to the Royal Air Force, which was approved. In the Air Force he found the opportunity to carry out extraordinary missions. He flew night flights over Germany, occupied France, Holland and Norway. He also participated in the defense of Malta. In 1944 he was transferred to serve in South East Asia and on the way there he managed to visit his parents in Haifa. Once, when flying high-ranking officers in a large transport aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, he succeeded in making a difficult forced landing on an isolated island without damage or casualties, and immediately organized a successful rescue operation.
During the period of his Air Force duties, he was awarded a number of decorations for distinguished service. This gave him a promising future in the Royal Air Force, but in 1946 he became a pilot for B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Air Corporation) and entered the life of an exceptional civilian, married, and had two children.
With the U.N. approval of the Partition Plan on 29th November 1947 paving the way for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, and with the outbreak of fighting in the War of Independence, he felt that his place was with the Jewish air force, and with much difficulty was released from his work contract with B.O.A.C. Giving up his rights and seniority, he telegraphed his parents that he was on the way “in the service of Herzl.”
His first attempt to ferry one of three Avro Anson light aircraft to Israel, just before the declaration of the state, was foiled. On landing at Rhodes for refueling, an error by one of the other pilots made the Greek Government impound all three planes, which remained there until retrieved by the Israel Air Force in 1949.
He returned to Rome, this time to ferry a Noordyn Norseman together with the famous World War II Canadian non-Jewish ace, George “Buzz” Beurling, who had volunteered to fight for the Jewish State, and was also a veteran of the siege of Malta air battles.
Cohen and Beurling were practicing take-offs and landings at Urbe airfield near Rome to ferry their Norseman to Israel. On 20th May 1948 the plane caught fire and was engulfed in flames by the time it landed. Sabotage was suspected but never proven.
Leonard Cohen and George Beurling were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Rome. Both were re-interred in the Haifa Carmel military cemetery on 9th November 1950, Beurling’s body in the special non-Jewish section.
Inscribed on Leonard’s gravestone is a poem he wrote in 1945:
“On my death, remember my love
for the sun sinking over the Carmel woods.
The fox cries in the thicket.
If I die and my body is amongst strangers,
Remember and search for my spirit on the Carmel.”
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf.
Anecdote researched by Joe Woolf.