Ankori, Ofir

Son of Yehudit and Yosef, was born on 11.2.1930 in Kfar Yehoshua and completed the local school there. His soul was connected to village life and to the work of the land. Even in his childhood he had been galloping on a horse and by the age of ten he was already able to harvest the scythe. He loved to sing, to climb the mountains, to wander through the woods and go on distant walks. He was particularly interested in agriculture and in manual labor and during his free time, helped his parents and excelled in knowledge of the agriculture in all its branches. As a teenager, he took a Dye course in a village and then began to train with weapons. Before he turned 18, he wanted to join the Palmach and did not agree to go to any other position, and the village tried to hold him back because of the large number of local recruits, but Ophir insisted and fulfilled his wishes: On December 27, 1947 he joined the ” The Palmach affair in his life began: work and training, guard nights, Rishon LeZion, Beit Dagon and Yazur, instructors’ course in the farm And even participated in repelling the first attack on the agriculture. Ophir was an excellent fighter. After serving as a tour guide in Tel Mond and Givat Olga, he participated in escorting convoys to Jerusalem, in the battles of the Harel Brigade and in the fighting in the city itself. He displayed courage and dedication in all of these. In the battles of Katamon, a wounded member carried a 600-meter-long wounded member on his heavy shoulders and enjoyed the joy of victory. After May 1 he said goodbye to his friends: “If I stay alive, I will now appreciate them.” In Sha’ar Hagai, he worked as a squad commander, but he hid his insignia in his pocket, because he did not want to patronize his subordinates. Ophir fell on May 12, 1948, during a heavy Arab bombardment of the Beit Mahsir outposts, while he wanted to remove a friend who was fainting from the range of fire, and when he hit the shell he tried three times to raise his head and glance at the hills of Jerusalem. Ophir was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Anavim.