A plot where 120 unknown soldiers are buried - and how the fallen soldier was identified after 78 years

The IDF located the grave of Shlomo Kheimson, who fell in Cyprus in 1948, after an investigation lasting over four years. Researchers pieced together fragments of maps and rabbis' lists to decipher the grave's location in the immigrant plot in Haifa, where 120 of 136 graves are anonymous. His daughter, who was four days old when he was killed, was informed of the finding.

The IDF announced the location of the burial place of the late Shlomo Kheimson, who was shot by guards of the Karaolos detention camp in Cyprus during an escape attempt on the night between September 29 and 30, 1948. The investigation, which lasted more than four years, was conducted by the Casualty Identification Branch of the Casualty Division, the Military Rabbinate, and the Ministry of Defense. Researchers collected archival materials from around the world and solved the mystery by connecting fragments of maps of the cemetery in Margo and lists of rabbis who served in Cyprus. "The golden sequence" – seven names in a row written by one of the rabbis – led to the identification of the grave. Kheimson was buried in Cyprus and only in 1970 was brought to Israel. His daughter Miriam, who was four days old when he was killed, was informed of the finding. The head of the investigation team, Colonel Y., said that "she receives a grave of a father she never knew." The plot in Haifa contains 136 graves, of which 120 are anonymous.