NewsMax Wires
Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003

The arrival was followed by a memorial service held in a hangar at Lod air force base, adjacent to Ben Gurion International airport outside Tel Aviv.

Six brother officers from the Israeli Air Force carried his coffin into the hangar in silence as pilot cadets presented arms. U.S. and Israeli flags, a picture of Earth and an excerpt from the Bible: "In heaven above and on Earth below" adorned the front wall.

Ilan Ramon's teenage son, Assaf, wearing his father's light blue NASA jacket and insignia, read a letter written on Columbia's last day in space by astronaut David Brown to the Ramon family.

"If I had been born in space, I know I would desire to visit the beautiful Earth more than I have ever yearned to visit space. It's a beautiful planet," Brown wrote.

An air force lieutenant colonel who had served under Ramon and was identified only by his first name, Yoram, played on his saxophone the sad love song that the Israeli astronaut's wife, Rona, had chosen to broadcast to her husband as a wakeup call in space.

Israel's President Moshe Katsav noted that Ramon had carried out two missions of worldwide significance. One was the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, when the world did not realize the danger that Iraq represented, and some countries criticized Israel for the attack.

Those countries have since realized that. "If Ilan and his friends had not taken off and risked their lives, a grave danger would have hung over Israel and other states," Katsav said.

The second mission was on the Columbia space shuttle, the president added. The shuttle crashed on Feb. 1, as it was returning to Earth, killing all seven crew members.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Ramon's "youthful face, his eternal smile, his fresh countenance, the twinkle in his eyes -- penetrated our souls ...

"Far up there -- at the edge of the scope of human achievement -- we could not have had a better and more fitting representative," Sharon added. "The Star of David, the 'blue and white' of our flag, were interwoven with the American Stars and Stripes, and the common fate of the team poignantly strengthened the staunch partnership between our nations," he said.

On Tuesday, Ramon will be buried quietly with only his family and close relatives present at Nahalal, in the Jezreel Valley.

Nahalal is near the Ramat David air force base where Ramon had served. Moshe Dayan, Israel's legendary military commander and later foreign minister, is also buried in that cemetery overlooking the green valley. The Ramons and close friends used to sit outside, in Nahalal, and sing.

Before the casket was carried out, for its final journey to Nahalal, a choir sang a song that Rona Ramon selected and seemed to respond to the messages from the space.

"Hero of the world, kid "With a smile of angles, "Guard the world, kid, "Because we can no longer do it."

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Shuttle Disaster