Gabai, David

Son of Badra and Abraham, was born in 1929 in the exile of Yemen. In 1939, at the age of ten, he immigrated to Israel and was educated there for work and protection. He graduated from elementary school, studied shoemaking and worked in it. In Rishon Letzion, he worked temporarily in agriculture, and even though he was barely earning a living, he left his salary to pay support to his parents in the Diaspora. When his turn came to help the people, he served as a guard in Be’er Ya’akov and Tel Litvinsky. David was a member of the Irgun underground and active in its ranks during the struggle and at the beginning of the War of Independence, and participated in activities in Safed, Jaffa and Ramle, and went with Irgun forces to attack Manshiyeh, on the Jaffa border. On Passover Passover, April 30, 1948, David was killed by a mortar shell. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak.