Maimon, Rafael

Son of Sarah (Serena) and Amos (Kamus). He was born on October 24, 1908, in Benghazi, Libya. He attended elementary school in Benghazi and later in high school, and at the same time studied at the Talmud Torah yeshiva. He was an alert, talented, and willing child, an excellent swimmer who excelled in swimming competitions in the youth movement where he was a member. In 1942, with the entry of the Germans into Libya, Raphael immigrated to Palestine after many hardships and forged papers. In October 1942, he enlisted in the army fighting the Germans and was assigned to the 462 Hebrew Transport Company, which participated in many battles in the Western Desert. On the 27th of Nisan 5703 (1.5.1943) he was on board the ship “Aryanpura” on its way from Alexandria, Egypt to Malta. The ship was bombed by German planes and drowned. A hundred and forty of the soldiers of Unit 462 went down into the depths of the sea, and Raphael among them. He left a wife, two daughters, parents, a brother and three sisters. In the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, a ship-shaped memorial was erected in memory of the missing, and next to it is a water pool with the names of the fallen engraved on the bottom. This fallen hero is a “maklan” – a hero whose burial place is unknown.