Publicity
An entry in the 2020 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Ebook Awards Contest.
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SEE P.R. FLYERS BELOW FOR APPEARANCE ON NOVEMBER 12,2018 AT J.C.C.,TAMPA
10.25×16 Ad – Jewish Press FINAL
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Dick Berman, author of The Machalniks, offers a presentation to many Jewish, and non Jewish organizations, on the establishment of the Israeli Air Force in 1948.
Two recent documentaries, A Wing and a Prayer, and Above and Beyond touch on the story of the Jewish American World War II pilots who created the Israeli Air Force.
While gripping in their presentations, the documentaries cover but a small portion of the many amazing facts surrounding these mostly unknown heroes, called Machalniks, the Hebrew acronym for Volunteers from Abroad.
Told through the eyes of two fictionalized characters, Mr. Berman’s lecture on his novel, The Machalniks, is based on historical fact. He presents the audience with many awe-inspiring stories of these brave men who changed the course of history, and without whom, there might not be an Israel today.
The author brings you the mission of one Jewish World War II veteran, who in early 1948, planned to fly holocaust survivors over the British Navy, blockading the survivors attempts to reach the promise land by sea. But, when surrounding Arab countries with a population of over sixty million, vowed to annihilate the 600,000 Jews living in Palestine, the mission quickly changed to smuggling arms to the Jews to defend themselves.
And, in the process, this small group of Machalniks who volunteered to fly the supply planes, gave birth to what is arguably one of the most proficient military units in the world today … the Israeli Air Force.
Mr. Berman goes on to tell how shamefully the Israeli government treated these Machalniks after the War for Independence ended, and the impossible choices many of these pilots faced. He also addresses what happened to some of these men when the U.S. Government put them on trial for what they did, with an outcome no one could have predicted.