BICOM

At a special ceremony yesterday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the reburial of the remains of British army officer Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson.

Patterson, an Irish-born military man who fought in the Boer War, established two battalions of Jewish soldiers in the British army during World War One, hailed as the first fighting units of Jewish soldiers in two thousand years. With the help of Zionist leaders Ze’ev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor, Patterson established and commanded the Zion Mule Corps, which fought at Galipoli and then the Jewish Brigade, which saw action against the Turks in Palestine.

Patterson continued to advocate for Zionism after the war ended and worked closely with Jabotinsky and Netanyahu’s father Ben Zion, to crystalize the idea of a Jewish army. Speaking at yesterday’s ceremony, Netanyahu noted that Patterson “was also the godfather of my brother Yoni, who was named for him.” It is “no exaggeration” said Netanyahu to say that Patterson was the “commander of the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia. And as such, he can be called the godfather of the Israeli army.”

Patterson died in Los Angeles in 1947 but had expressed a wish to be laid to rest alongside his comrades from the Jewish Brigade, many of whom has established Moshav Avichayil where yesterday’s ceremony took place. However, Patterson remained buried in Los Angeles until his grandson began to research his history and alerted Israeli officials to Patterson’s wishes. His remains were transferred to Israel and were yesterday interred at the military cemetery at Moshav Avichayil.

Netanyahu said that yesterday’s ceremony, which was also attended by Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Science and Technology Minister Ya’akov Peri, had “come full circle historically,” meaning that “we repay a very great debt to one of the heroes of our people, one of the greatest supporters that Zionism, the Jewish people and the State of Israel ever had.”