Glazer, Mordechai

Son of Tzippora and Avraham, was born on March 15, 1930 in the town of Smargon near Vilna, Poland. He studied at the “Tarbut” high school and excelled in his studies. During the Nazi occupation he was interned in the concentration camps and was punished several times for being active among camp dwellers. He was sent to an extermination camp, but with the American occupation he was saved from death. His mother and three brothers were murdered in an extermination camp. His father and another brother managed to reach Israel. In Germany he joined a “Gordonia” pioneering training group. He immigrated to Israel on the illegal immigrant ship HaTikva, which was deported to Cyprus, and from there he arrived in Israel in 1946 and was arrested at Atlit. After his release he was sent to the Massada group and was there with the “Youth Aliyah” group. He was accepted as a member of the group, worked first as a driver and then as a driver. He was a member of the Haganah. Straight-hearted and candid. With the outbreak of the War of Independence he volunteered for service in the Golani brigade. The Syrians invaded the Jordan Valley on May 16, 1948, took control of several of the area’s outposts, but were stopped by our forces in Zemach. On May 18 the Syrians launched an attack on a plant with the help of artillery and tanks. Our forces did not face the intensity of the Syrian attack. At first the town of Tzemach fell, and finally the police station and the defenders retreated under Syrian fire towards Degania. In this battle he fell on the 9th of Iyar 5708 (May 18, 1948.) He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Degania Aleph.