After 44 years, IDF soldier Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, HY”D, is finally home.

Yehuda was only 22 when he fought in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub during the First Lebanon War on June 11, 1982. An Israeli armored force was caught in a deadly clash with Syrian forces in the Bekaa Valley. Twenty soldiers were killed. Dozens were wounded. Three young soldiers disappeared: Zachary Baumel, Zvi Feldman, and Yehuda Katz.

For decades, their families waited. For decades, Israel searched.

Zachary Baumel was brought home in 2019 after 37 years. Zvi Feldman was brought home in 2025 after almost 43 years. Now Yehuda Katz has been found, identified, and returned in a special operation led by IDF Military Intelligence and the Mossad.

What other nation does this? Governments changed. Wars were fought. The Soviet Union disappeared. The Middle East was transformed. The Jewish people never forgot one missing soldier.