TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A Tucson native, who still has family in The Old Pueblo, has spent decades living in Israel. Now he’s seeing firsthand the effects of the war in his country.
Marshall Grant graduated from Sahuaro High School 40 years ago. He says he went to Israel that summer to volunteer and soon after made the move permanent.
“I do visit Tucson a lot because my mom is there and I have two sisters there,” said Grant, who visited as recently as this summer. “I grew up in a very Zionist-oriented family that always appreciated Israel.”
He says growing up in Tucson “wasn’t a bad experience,” but the move to Israel felt right.
“I felt a part of it immediately, and so I felt an obligation to it,” he told KGUN. “I’m still very idealistic, I think. I believe in this country.”
Grant lives in Even Yehuda, near Netanya in Central Israel. He spent 23 years in the Israeli Army, retiring a lieutenant colonel.
Since then, he has worked in tech and is currently a high school English teacher.
He described what it was like earlier this month watching Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel.
“You’re just glued in front of the TV,” he recalled. “A lot of good people were just massacred for no reason… Our sense of personal safety has been undermined. It’s really fighting for your country.”
Grant is now doing that once again. He answered the call, now splitting his time between his home and school, and serving in the reserves in the northern part of the country.
“I’m in the command rooms, control rooms,” he explained. “Keeping abreast of things. Trying to keep people coordinated and safe. I’ll leave it at that.”
He says leaving behind his partner at home and the kids in his classes, at least some of the time, was not an easy decision.
“But I’m doing something worthwhile, and people love me at home. And I think it’s important… And I do the night shift. So I come out at four o’clock in the morning and call my mom. It’s good timing there.”
That’s roughly six in the evening in Tucson… far from Grant and the war.
“I’ve had to go to the ‘safe room’ once and… I was out in the field and there were sirens and I had to lay on the ground,” he said. “And you hear the booms… It’s very unsettling.”
He also describes seeing cities near Israel’s borders being evacuated, as well as there being “so many stories” of loss. He says it’s hard to watch the news.
“I picked up a newspaper today… Every page is painful.”
But he says he’s also seen people rallying to help each other on the streets.
“Citizens setting up tables with food and had a little generator to make hot coffee for anyone who wanted to stop,” he remembered. “They say it was for soldiers. The country’s mobilized…”
His message for people following the war from the U.S.: “Enough social media. Talk to people who live here. Arabs, Jews. Talk to people.”
Grant has three children, including a daughter he says also just joined the military reserves.
He says he is just trying to contribute in what ways he can.
“Hoping everything will remain as quiet as it can.”
