New app finds graves of fallen Israeli soldiers

‘Memory Paths’ provides the most direct route to the site along with other relevant information.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Ahead of Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims, the Defense Ministry launched an app to help people locate the graves of family and friends in military cemeteries.

Named “Memory Paths,” users enter the name of the individual whose grave they are looking for. The app provides the most direct route to the grave.

The app also links to a website where users can recite Psalms and  light a virtual memorial candle.

The day also honors deceased members of the Israel Police, Mossad, Israeli Prison Service and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). This includes Druze, Bedouins, Christians and Muslims.

In 1980, the Knesset expanded Memorial Day to include people killed in action going back to 1860, when Jews first began moving outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. This includes members of various pre-state underground militias who fought the British.

The day was later expanded to include civilians killed in terror attacks and other hostile acts.

Memorial Day begins at sundown on April 24. Sirens will wail at 8:00 p.m. and again at 11:00 a.m. as the nation joins in a minute of silence. Ceremonies will be held across the country and families of the fallen will visit the graves.

A torch-lighting ceremony at the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery on April 25 towards sundown marks the transition from the somber Memorial Day to the joy of Independence Day.

“In preparation for the upcoming Memorial Day, the system will operate in some of the cemeteries and I hope that by the next Memorial Day we will expand the application to all military cemeteries in Israel,” said Aryeh Moalem, head of the Defense Ministry’s Department of Commemoration and Heritage Families.