This is Ella Ram. Her father, the late Sergeant First Class (Rasal) Elad Shlomo Ram, was killed on the last day of the Second Lebanon War after an anti-tank missile hit him while he was rescuing wounded soldiers.
For his bravery under fire, Elad posthumously received a military citation. When he died, he was 31, Ella his daughter was only ten months old and so never met her brave father.
Today, Ella is already 17 years old, she spoke about her father that she never knew: "Since I was born, my mother told me about my father, and today I feel very proud of him. In my perception, I know the person he was. I feel that my mother brought me up according to his values. I walk down the street and see a little girl jumping on her dad and it's upsetting. Even when I entered first grade, or at my Bat Mitzvah, in all the critical moments of my life, my father was not present. I am pained that he is not here to see who I have become. I constantly have a feeling of missing out.
People talk to me about how special and good and what a great hero he was, or about what wonderful advice he would give, and I didn't get a single piece of advice from him. I have a hole in my heart. A kind of longing that I don't know how to explain. It's not his voice or the touch I don't know, it's more a longing for the father I created in my head.
I will soon be enlisting in the army and one of the reasons I would like to enlist in combat service is to follow in my father's footsteps. Also to close a circle and try to understand some of the things he experienced, and also to save people if necessary.
My father saved people in the war and I know that some people say that without him they would not be here. I know he gave his life so that other families wouldn't fall apart. I used to be angry and say why didn't you watch over us and why weren't you more careful. Over time the anger fades away and I am mostly left with sadness"
May his memory be blessed and may Ella's broken heart heal.
Source: Documenting Israel