30 days after he fell in battle against Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri, the family of Major David Meir arrived at his grave to pay their respects.
At the grave, a photographer captured Meir's infant son, Shaked, smiling for a picture at his father's grave.
Meir's brother, Tzuriel, explained how well the orphaned baby's smile was appropriate for his late father. "It's difficult to say, but it's natural, David was a person who had a smile on his face all his life," he said in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet.
He added, "Even in the most difficult moments of his reserve duty and the most grueling times, they always said that he smiled and lived happily. On the day he fell, he arrived at the unit with a smile on his face saying, 'I came to do my job.' When they rescued him after he had been bleeding for an hour, he smiled at his rescuers, And after death, whoever viewed his body said that he had a small smile on his face."
Tzuriel also related how David hastened to go and protect those who needed his help. "David was ready to give everything for this. He could not stand by. Before they entered Be'eri, they were near Kfar Aza and he said, 'I have to go in, people are being killed there, I can't wait.'"
He explained how found out about his brother's death defending Israel's civilians. "My sister called and said that Tzuriel was very badly injured and we had to look for him in the hospitals. My father went out to the area and picked me up on the way. After an hour of being lost, an officer came to tell us" that David had succumbed to his wounds.
The two brothers were very close and loved to do outdoor activities together in their youth such as riding ATVs and going on hiking trips. When David grew up, Tzuriel said, he became a loving uncle who spoiled his brother's children.
"In his obituary, I said there is no end to the pain, but no end to his greatness. We are a family which is familiar with this kind of grief. Six years ago our cousin Ahikam Amihai, a [off-duty] soldier, was murdered while on a weekend hike. We know how pain can lead to growth and that from pain can come life," he said.