Basan, Yosef (Yosfiko)

Yosef, son of Roza and Naftali Basan, was born in 1927 in Nova-Zagora, Bulgaria. In the course of time, he joined the youth movement Hashomer Hatzair and the Hanoar Haoved movement in Bulgaria. When the news of the War of Independence reached his town, he was determined, despite the risks involved, to immigrate immediately to Palestine to take part in the war for its survival. At the end of 1948, he arrived in Israel via Yugoslavia and immediately joined the IDF. His family, who remained in Bulgaria, received only one letter from him. When they did not receive additional letters or even information about the whereabouts of their son, his parents and brothers decided to immigrate to Israel. In March 1949 the family arrived in Israel and immediately searched for his whereabouts. Yosef fell in service on 20 Tevet (21.1.1949) at the Sheikh-Nuran post and was brought to rest in the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak. Survived by his parents and two brothers.