Obituary by Dave Bloom 20th February 2022
Harold “Smoky” Simon passed away this week in Herzliya just short of his 102nd birthday and left a significant legacy as one of the founders and architects of the Israeli Airforce, as chairman of World Machal for many years, a successful Israeli businessman and beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Smoky and his wife Myra volunteered in 1948 to help support the fledgling State of Israel and with Smoky’s experience as a navigator in World War II, he became the first chief of operations for the Israel Airforce. Myra had served as a meteorologist in the South African air force and she contributed her skills to the IAF in its early days. They arrived and enlisted just days before the outbreak of the War of Independence.
Smoky often recalled one of the first flights he made when the war broke out in May of that year when he was tasked with flying a reconnaissance/bombing mission near the Syrian border. He held a twenty-pound bomb on his lap and literally chucked it out of the two-man cockpit of the rickety Czechoslovakian-made Avia S-199 Messerschmidt.
Another story he loved to relate was how many of the first pilots in the air force were South African and because there was no voice encryption in those early days, to hide communications between pilots and control towers from the enemy, they spoke in Afrikaans.
Smoky was born in Johannesburg and at the age of six months, his family moved to Bultfontein in what was then the Orange Free State. His high school days were spent in Winburg, because his parents wanted him in a larger Jewish community. After matriculating he moved to Johannesburg where he studied for a Bachelor of Commerce and was articled to an accounting firm.
Soon after he wrote his final exams and qualifying as an accountant the Second World War was raging so he volunteered for the South African Airforce and was trained locally and in Kenya. Later he was seconded to the British Airforce in North Africa. He flew several missions as a navigator/bombardier and ended his first tour of duty in Sicily after the Germans retreated. He returned on leave to South Africa where met his future wife Myra. He later served in other bomber squadrons based in Scotland and Ireland before moving back to an air force base in Durban which is where the war ended for him in August 1945 and he was de-mobilised later that year.
After the war Smoky set up a small accounting firm in Johannesburg and one of his first customers was his very good friend Leon Zimmerman who had setup an Aviation company called Commercial Airlines (Comair).
Smoky recalled that there was tremendous camaraderie amongst Jewish ex-servicemen in Johannesburg and when war clouds loomed over Palestine he, and Myra, )they had recently married), plus over 800 South Africans volunteered to help the about-to-be established Jewish State of Israel. They were known as Machalnikim (Overseas Volunteers in the IDF) and they brought tremendous military experience to the many units they joined.
“South Africa contributed the highest number of Machal volunteers per capita of the many Jewish Communities who sent assistance in the War of Independence,” he would proudly say. These were men and women who had fought and survived five years fighting the Germans and yet they were willing to risk their lives again to support Israel. “We felt obligated to help our brethren,’” Smoky was quoted as saying.
His role in defending the nascent State of Israel in the skies was featured in Nancy Spielberg’s 2014 film entitled “Above and Beyond”.
He and Myra returned to South Africa to “build up some financial assets” so that they could make Aliyah which they later did in the mid 1960s with their four children Saul, Dan, Philippa and Aliza. They built their home in Herzliya Pituach just north of Tel Aviv. Their two sons also became fighter pilots in the Israel Airforce, following their father’s example.
Smoky built a highly successful insurance business in Israel and was always involved in community affairs including as Chairman of World Machal which preserved the story and legacy of Machal. He was often the guest of the IDF new-soldier intake program and other organisations like Telfed where he would relay stories in great detail and amazing recall even in his late nineties, about Machal.
A book entitled “South Africa’s 800” was published, a large digital archive created online (www.machal.org.il) and an annual service is held at the Machal memorial in Latrun.
Above all Smoky was a gentleman and a mensch and as his children wrote: “The huge hole created by the loss and sorrow is also filled with admiration, respect and gratitude towards him, the man who was as gracious, thankful and selfless in his last few days, just as he was throughout his entire life.” יהי זכרו ברוך