Daniel Mendel Agron

Dani Agron (1922 New York, USA – 1992 Israel), was the eldest child of Gershon Harry Agron (Agronsky) (1893-1959) and Ethel Agron née Lipshitz (1895-1973). His father was the editor of The Jerusalem Post, and a politician who served as Mayor of Jerusalem (1955-1959). His parents were married in April 1921 in the United States and he was born in 1922 in New York. The family subsequently moved to Jerusalem, Palestine and he attended Beit Hakerem High School. He was repeatedly expelled for bad behaviour and was sent to Haifa as a teenager, where he attended vocational school and lived with the parents of Ezer Weizman.

From the volunteers for the British Army, enlisted on 14/8/41 personal number 16460/Pal served in the Jewish Brigade. 

During the War of Independence, he was a weapons smuggler for the Israel Defense Forces. He controlled the secret flying school at Urde airport near Rome, Italy its pilots, as well as other aerospace concerns. Rome served as a transition ground for volunteers to fight for Israel against Palestine. In charge of the Machal volunteer pilots, he sent them around Europe and the world to learn to fly whatever planes the group could acquire, including former German World War II planes. He lived in various hotels, finally settling on the Excelsior Hotel in Rome as it would allow him to keep a dog; he turned his room into a communications headquarters. Later in the war, he recruited South African pilots Jack Weinronk to lead the pilot school and Danny Rosin to be an instructor. Though he loved planes, he could never pilot himself. He had always had poor eyesight and, in 1956, he drove over a landmine that had been planted during the Suez Crisis and lost a leg. In the 1960s, he started and managed Merom Aviation Services, a crop-dusting company. He co-founded Israel Aerospace Industries with Shimon Peres. In the 1970s, he worked as the business manager of The Jerusalem Post. He married Hassia Levy Agron (1923-2001), Israeli dancer, choreographer, and educator. In 1957 they had a son, Amos Agron. Source: South Africa’s 800. The Story of South African Volunteers in Israel’s War of Birth. Henry Katzew 1998. https://www.geni.com/people/Daniel-Agron/6000000026746741266. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershon_Agron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassia_Levy-Agron Danny Rosin https://www.jwmww2.org/soldier.aspx?id=10424. Jack Weinronk http://www.jwmww2.org/soldier.aspx?id=11118.