Death of a hero

A dear, dear friend, Hanna Najjar, died last week of cancer. He was one of our 'boys in blue' who defended the skies of Jordan as a fighter pilot. In 1967 he was flying in the Hawker Hunter taking off from Mafraq Airbase to defend our air space with our other pilots. He was the last one to land in Amman (Mafraq had been destroyed) and as he was approaching the runway to land others noticed Israeli aircraft behind him and were urging him to just leave the aircraft but he taxied down the runway looking for somewhere safe to put the Hunter and thought that it would be safe next to the UN aircraft parked there. Just as he had stopped the Israelis swept in and Hanna was caught getting out of the aircraft and injured in the hand. All the aircraft were destroyed. Hanna ended his career in the airforce as a Brigadier Director of Operations. He then went on to become Director General of Civil Aviation and was currently working on the privatisation of Aqaba airport when cancer savagely attacked him and took him from his family in a very short time.

I am so far away in New Zealand at the moment and could not join in the mourning but I salute him, as should we all, a wonderful and loving family man and a good friend. Blessings on his family, we shall all miss him so much. T