Amsel, Leon-Morris
Son of Lina and Jacob (Jacques) was born on November 20, 1929, in the city of Nancy, France, where he studied in a high school. Grew up in a foreign environment and barely knew the life of the Jews, but the war and decrees imposed on the Jews after the French conquest by the Germans reminded him of his Jewishness, especially when his parents were taken to a concentration camp. His brother, who preceded him by immigrating to Israel and was a soldier, wrote to him about the campaign for Israel’s independence and the danger to the Yishuv. Leon followed. He enlisted in Paris, trained in an aliyah camp in France and immigrated to Israel on an Italian ship during the first truce. “The war will be hard and cruel, many will fall and they will not be able to see victory, and so I have come,” Leon described the motives that led to his rise. As soon as he arrived, he joined the “Etzioni” brigade (the Jerusalem Brigade), before he knew the country, but what he saw was enough to make him proud of the creation of his people. On the night of 19-20 October in October, Operation “Winery” was held, in which the Etzioni Brigade intended to occupy outposts in the area of Miss Kerry, the village of Walaja and the control of Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem. Leon fell in battle on the outposts near Volga on October 20, 1948. As a machine gunner, he mounted his squad, on an outpost facing the enemy, and opened fire. When he was discovered by the enemy, he was shot in the forehead and killed. He was buried in Sheikh Bader Aleph. On the 17th of Elul 5706 (August 30, 1950) he was transferred to the eternal rest of the military cemetery at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem
