By HAVIV RETTIG GURmatan pilot killed 224 idf(photo credit: IDF)
Sec.-Lt. Carmi Elan loved challenges, even extreme ones, recalls Jacob Nahum, principal of the Tihon Hadash high school in Herzliya from which the 19-year-old cadet graduated.
"He was full of the joy of life. He loved to walk on the edge, to take risks. His father said, 'He was a boy of extremes,'" said Nahum. "He was into water sports and wanted to get into the most elite units in the IDF, to have a meaningful service."
Elan was killed on Wednesday when his Zukit training aircraft crashed in the Negev.
"He was a clown, always happy. Pictures of him always show him sticking out his tongue," said Amihai Haran, a fellow cadet who served with Elan for over a year in the Pilot's Course.
Elan came to Israel at age five, when his family made aliya from Los Angeles. Though "completely Israeli," according to Haran, on the phone he would speak to his parents, Eileen and Tod, in English.
It was Elan's energy that friends and family remembered on Thursday.
"The friends he commanded [in the officer's course] loved him very much," recalled Idan Avidar, who also served with Elan during the course. "Of course, he always did everything with an unforgettable smile. In basic training, even the commanders couldn't help themselves and would laugh at his jokes," he said.
"It was not a dream of his to be a pilot, he just thought it would be fun," said his brother Romi. "He took it as a challenge and welcomed it with a smile. That is how he approached life. It is rare to see that in a 19-year-old. It is a very mature approach to life. He enjoyed everything he did, including the Pilot's Course.
"It is a great comfort to know that he loved the way he lived, that he lived his life to the fullest, that he did what he loved, but there is great sorrow to know that we won't get to see what else he could have achieved. We all knew that he was destined for great things and that he would do things that no one else has done. It shouldn't have ended now," said Romi.
A devoted windsurfer, Elan was remembered by fellow windsurfers on Thursday as one of their best, a newcomer to the sport who quickly became an instructor.
"He only surfed three years, but he was one of the best," said Tom, 30.
"He taught me a few tricks and was always helpful to the guys on the beach," recalled Shai.
Elan was also a role model, said principal Nahum. "He had a special personality, with deeply rooted values. He was very sociable and extremely opinionated. He always had to express an opinion on everything."
This summer, Elan returned to the high school to speak to his former principal.
"He came in the Air Force uniform, with insignia, and he told me, 'You remember that you believed in me? I came to show you it was worth it.'"
Elan was right, believes Nahum. "He was worth believing in."
"He was very generous and selfless, he cared about everyone around him, more than anyone else I know," said Romi.
Elan will be laid to rest at 11 a.m. Friday at the military cemetery in Kibbutz Einat.
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