It has been almost a generation since the 10th Company (Company Yud) of the Israel Defense Forces' 79th Armored Battalion was virtually obliterated in the fierce battles of the Yom Kippur War. On Oct. 6, 1973, while Israelis were at home marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel. While the Israeli army was initially caught off guard, it eventually managed to turn the tables and advance toward Cairo and Damascus. Israel's massive number of casualties, coupled with the sense that both the government and the army had failed the people, eventually caused Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign. Last week, just days before the war's 38th anniversary, GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Tal Russo honored the veterans of the 10th Company (Company Yud) with a special certificate of appreciation. When the war broke out, the company received orders to link up with the 79th Battalion, which was fighting on the Egyptian front in the northern part of the Suez Canal. While on its way, the company splintered into three contingents. Their mission was to keep the Egyptian forces from advancing any further and at the same time try to rescue the Israeli troops stranded on the outposts along the Suez Canal. One of the commanders of these formations was told to head toward Qantara, a town on the eastern bank of the canal. He encountered heavy resistance and lost 11 men. His deputy company commander, who was leading a second formation, was ambushed by Egyptian forces and was killed along with two other soldiers. After the third contingent lost several men in battle, one of the battalion's platoon commanders reorganized the remaining forces and together with another armored battalion, Shaked, attempted to break the siege on one of the canal outposts. Their repeated efforts failed and he and several others were killed, with others wounded. Ofer Vardi, 56, was a soldier entrenched in the fighting. He has written a book about his experiences, entitled "The Storm of the 10th Company," which brought the company's heroic tale to the attention of military leaders and eventually led to the appreciation ceremony. "The company had been all but wiped out by the end of the first day of fighting," Vardi said. "Every soldier who managed to survive the first day joined another force, and in some cases this was done independently and without any commanders around. People took things into their own hands. Troops in each armored personnel carrier were effectively on their own." In 2003, Vardi was working on a paper about the war and in need of photos of the platoon in action. He reached out to photographer Micha Bar-Am, who agreed but asked Vardi to be interviewed for a documentary he was making about the Yom Kippur War. The ball was soon rolling. "A day after the movie aired on television, I received a call from someone I hadn't spoken with since army days, and he told me that he had seen the movie and the memorial page I created online for those killed. He told me that we had not done enough to remember the fallen soldiers. I shared the same exact feeling," Vardi recalled. "We were scattered all over during the war and were never given a chance for resolution, for everyone to gather and express thanks to their comrades before parting ways. So we decided to create a website recounting our companies' battles, and we told Maj. Gen. Russo about it. Several weeks later, we were told that Russo had decided to award the company a certificate of appreciation." On Sept. 26, veterans of the company gathered with their family members and the families of the bereaved soldiers for the ceremony. "People were highly appreciative of the fact that the memory is being kept alive," says Vardi. "People still live the horrors of this war each day, but we take some comfort in knowing that people are grateful. This is what we were deprived of all these years."
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