Moshe (Moshiko) Yehuda

Son of Mercada and Shmuel, was born on February 15, 1925 in the city of Salonika, Greece, and completed an elementary school. When the Nazis entered Salonika he was sent to a concentration camp in Poland, where he worked for two years until the time of liberation. With the help of the Jewish Agency he came to Italy and from there immigrated to Israel in 1946. In Israel he lived in Tel Aviv and worked as a laborer in a textile factory. During the War of Independence he served in the Golani brigade and participated in the battle of Lubia, one of the most important enemy strongholds in the Lower Galilee, which blocked the road to Tiberias and could serve as a springboard for the attack in the direction of Afula. On June 9, Golani forces attacked the village from the direction of Sajara, and another force, in armored vehicles, moved along the road from Tiberias. The attacking force encountered fierce resistance from the enemy, who even sent reinforcements to the area. The battle was fought until nightfall and finally the forces had to retreat. In this battle he fell on the 2nd of Sivan 5708 (June 9, 1948.) He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Afula.