Keller, Yosef

Son of Sarah and Menahem, was born in Kfar Giladi on June 9, 1951. David was a native of Israel, a descendant of one of the families who founded Rosh Pinna, grew up in his kibbutz and absorbed his love for the land and settlement of his parents. In Kfar Giladi, and continued his studies at the Kfar Blum Regional High School, where he was a member of the Kibbutz Youth Division, where he enjoyed sports and played basketball in his kibbutz and in the military unit where he served. In August 1969, he enlisted in an elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces, underwent basic training and a series of courses as a combat soldier. Regiment Cpl. Yosef completed his officers’ course and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in October 1971. After a year he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and signed a regular army service with his unit during the Yom Kippur War. He was recruited as a flight attendant and served for a year as a pilot in the Air Force, and at the age of 25 he was accepted to a pilot course, which he successfully completed, and was promoted to the rank of captain. He served as a pilot in the Air Force’s Air Force School, and during that period his commanders expressed his opinion that he had “a character that was founded “In 1977 he married his girlfriend, a descendant of a veteran family in the Galilee, one of the founders of Hashomer, and later they had two children, who divided their time between the kibbutz and the IAF bases where Yosef served During his visits to Kfar Giladi he witnessed the suffering of the residents because of the Katyusha rockets that fell in the Galilee, and he often stayed with his children in the shelter during a Katyusha attack and was aware of the need to protect the Galilee communities. On the first day of the battles in the Peace for Galilee War, he went with his helicopter to attack the enemy, and in this attack he fell on the 5th of Sivan 5762 (5762). He was 31 when he died. He was laid to rest in the Tel Hai cemetery, leaving a wife, two children, parents and three sisters. Defense Minister Ariel Sharon wrote to his family: “He was an experienced pilot and fighter, being a Kfar Giladi son who was aware of the security situation On the northern border. ” The commander of his unit wrote to his family: “Everyone who knew him as a friend of arms or as a friend of recreation knows that it was impossible to be angry with him, even if he was wrong, even if he forgot, always with a smile, always with good spirit, Among the leaders in the squadron, Yossi was the most experienced fighter, with experience, a voice, a leader … We all wanted to be close to him, because Yossi could be trusted … The mission on the flight was to paralyze and destroy the artillery and Katyushas that shelled the northern Galilee … Yossi Fell in his defense of his home in the simplest sense of the sentence. ” Following an investigation carried out during 2017, the figure was updated that he was promoted to major after his death.