Mike Flanagan (Irish-Israeli soldier)

Mike Flanagan (Hebrew: מייק פלנגן; 15 May 1926 – 26 January 2014[1]) was an Irish soldier in the British Army who assisted the formation of the Israeli armed forces.

Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan, in front of a Cromwell Tank in Israel, 1948
Born(1926-05-15)15 May 1926
Foxford, County Mayo, Ireland
Died26 January 2014(2014-01-26) (aged 87)
Toronto, Canada ([1])
Allegiance United Kingdom
 Israel
Service/branch British Army
Israel Defense Forces
Unit Israeli Armored Corps
Battles/warsWorld War II
Spouse(s)Ruth Levy,[2]
Shirley Swartz [3]

He was born in Foxford, County Mayo[4] Ireland. Flanagan served with the British Army during World War II, and participated in the liberation of the Nazi-operated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[2]

Following the war, Flanagan was stationed in British Mandate Palestine. Being sympathetic with the emerging state of Israel, on 29 June 1948, Flanagan (along with his tank commander, Harry McDonald) stole two British Cromwell tanks and drove them to Israeli forces in Tel Aviv. These became central to the Israeli Armored Corps. The tanks were hidden in Givatayim and later formed the basis of the Israeli Armored Corps. The Cromwell tanks are currently on display at the Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum in Latrun.[5] Flanagan is considered one of the most famous deserters from the British Army in Palestine.[6]

Flanagan subsequently converted to Judaism, adopted the Hebrew name Michael Peleg and married Ruth Levy, a fellow soldier whom he had met on active service. They lived in Israel on Kibbutz Sha'ar HaAmakim.[7][2] Flanagan served as a reservist in the 1956 Sinai Campaign, the 1967 Six-Day War, as well as the Yom Kippur War in 1973.[3] He supervised the tank repair unit at the Armored Corps base in Julis throughout this time.[8] After his retirement from the Haganah and the death of his wife he emigrated to Canada. He died on 26 January 2014 and was subsequently buried in Sha’ar HaAmakim cemetery alongside his wife and son.[2]

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from The Wiesenthal Center in the United States.[9] The Israeli Defense Forces honored Flanagan for his immense and critical contributions to the formulation of the IDF.[10]

See also

References
  1. Michael Peleg, Notice of Death. Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  2. Newman, Marissa. British deserter who stole tanks for Haganah dies, The Times of Israel, 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  3. Woolf, Joe. The Machal Archives. http://machal.org.il/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=766&Itemid=1175&lang=en
  4. Lawlor, David (11 May 2018). "The Irish Rebels Who Fought for Israel". thewildgeese.irish. The Wild Geese. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  5. Newman, Marissa. "British deserter who stole tanks for Haganah dies". The Times of Israel. 2 February 2014, 7:28 pm
  6. Karpel, Dalia. "The Irish Rover", Haaretz, 17 December 2010. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  7. Cashman, Greer Fay. "Grapevine: Preserving unity". The Jerusalem Post. 2 June 2015.
  8. Karpel, Dalia (17 December 2010). "Choosing Sides". Haaretz. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  9. Daunt, Tina. "Wiesenthal Center, Hollywood Power Elite Honor Netflix's Ted Sarandos". The Hollywood Reporter. 19 March 2014.
  10. "Mike Flanagan".
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