Makovsky, Ephraim-Yisroel (Yisroelkel)
Ephraim Yisroel (Israel) Makovsky, son of Rachel and Yehuda Eliezer, was born on the 22nd of Nissan, April 15, 1925 in the city of Slawkow, Poland. In 1933 he immigrated with his parents from Danzig to Israel and the family settled in Tel Aviv. He worked in diamond polishing, and with his salary he supported his parents and in the evenings he continued his studies. He joined the Hagana and took part in the struggle against the British and the immigration of illegal immigrants. He completed the Mak”im and Ma”mim courses of the Israeli Army. At the beginning of the War of Independence, he took part in defensive activities in Tel Aviv in the most dangerous areas near the British Intelligence Headquarters, and at night he was assigned to train recruits in Tel Aviv and other places in Israel. Yisroel also specialized in sabotage and mortar fire. As a fighter in the Givati Brigade he participated in escorting convoys to Jerusalem and in combat operations on the way to and from Jerusalem. In the Battle of Dir Muchsin he commanded a team of soldiers trained to shoot mortars. When he saw that the range was too far, they went closer to enemy territory to hit the enemy. He postponed his wedding day, saying, “The homeland precedes the family.” At the time of the Egyptian invasion after the establishment of the State of Israel, he was confined to the training of recruits in Tel Aviv and once, on a day off, he left without permission to the Ashdod sector and participated in a simple corporal battle. After many entreaties and demands, he was allowed to go to the front with the rank of officer in the Shoalei Shimshon unit. He participated in many stormy battles in the Negev. When fighting resumed at the end of the first truce, he took part in the Battle of the Ibdis Outpost near Negba, where he fell on the 2nd of Tammuz 5708 (9.7.1948), when he came to the rescue of a wounded soldier while under incessant fire. He was buried in the military cemetery in Negba, and was post-humously promoted to lieutenant.
