Lustig, Yehoshua (Yashka)

Son of Hannah and Abraham, was born on May 5, 1962, in Berlin, the capital of Germany. In 1933 he immigrated with his parents to Israel and completed his studies at the school in Rehovot. He was a member of the Mahanot Ha’olim movement and later moved to Hanoar Haoved. He was one of the best soccer players in Hapoel, Rehovot, and was a coach in Kappap, boxing, and Jiu-jitsu. During the Second World War, he served for about 5 years in Navarot and taught courses, mainly in practical sports. Later, too, when he worked for the Electric Company, he went on leisure and training and served in the Haganah. On the day after the United Nations General Assembly decided on November 29, 1947, to divide the country into two states and the outbreak of the War of Independence, he joined active duty in the Hish Company and was later joined by a Givati ​​Brigade. After a rich winter of combat activities and training and organization in the growing army, he was given a two-week vacation on the occasion of his marriage. His wedding was a cheerful soldier’s wedding with the participation of most of his regiment. Before the end of his vacation, he learned that his battalion was moving toward Jaffa and immediately joined his friends and left. Fought heroically in the attack on Tel A-Rish during Operation Chametz to encircle Jaffa. “Its members, we will storm, the situation is not so bad, there is no retreat!” – he called to his friends, and a few minutes later, in an assault on the enemy post at Tel Arish, was hit by a bullet and fell on the 28th of April 1948. Shortly before his fall, he was appointed principal of the School of Applied Sports in the IDF, but did not manage to serve in this position. A monument in his memory was erected in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. In August 2007, as part of an investigation into the IDF’s missing persons branch, it was found that Yehoshua was buried in the Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery, and on August 30, 2007, a military ceremony was held in the presence of Yehoshua’s family and military officials.