O have a mother rise before 1200 strangers, and expose raw nerves as she relates the death of a son in battle, is a piercing highlight of the annual dinner of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Mary Dan Gor is an Israeli mother of three boys. Eran, her oldest, went into service like everyone else at 18.

"Ronnie could be a commander," she said, "but he preferred to be on the front line with his comrades in Givati, the fighters of the purple beret."

She was not surprised by his choice as she remembers him as an absolutely responsible person, "the perfect child every mother prays for."

He’d come home for Shabbat, tired and dusty, and brag that his "imah [mother] makes the best schnitzel in the world."

In a raid in March 2008 to stop Qassam rockets in Gaza, 1^st Sgt. Eran got trapped in an ambush and cut down instantly. He was only 20 and never got a chance to taste another of his mom’s schnitzels.

Benny Shabtai, president of Raymond Weil and dinner chairman, observed that in Israel, when the children turn 18, they say goodbye to their childhood.

Now it’s time for Gor’s middle child Nadav to also join the army.

"Our lives revolve around funerals, cemeteries and memorials," Gor sighed with a broken heart.

Shabtai tried to console the grieving mother: "Kids like Eran belong on Facebook, not memorial blogs."

Major Oren Balitzblau of IDF Intelligence was also at the dinner, which raised $15 million for the welfare of Israeli soldiers.

He told how he tried to arrest a terrorist suspect four years ago at a border crossing in Gaza. The man blew himself up and severely injured Balitzblau, destroying most of his eyesight.

"The best way to win over terror," he said, "is to continue with your life. I continue to train our intelligence officers even if I have to do it in the dark."

Through a satellite link from a military base at Yahalom, three lieutenants discussed their experiences in last year’s Gaza war. Naama said she chose the most challenging thing, flight school. Today she is only one of two female combat pilots of the F-16. "My mother thought it was a good place to find a boy friend — which I did."

Avner, of the engineers special forces, described using robots to locate bombs and find concealed terrorists during the Gaza campaign.

Erez, the platoon commander in a paratrooper battalion, told of walking into Gaza on their toes, like ballet dancers. They found mannequins dressed like terrorists in booby trapped buildings, and hidden bombs in Coke bottles on the ground.

"That’s an amazing story," said radio host Monica Crowley, who served as emcee at the dinner.

"That’s not an amazing story; that’s a good story," Erez countered. "An amazing story is me and my girlfriend in Rome last month."