Nunberg, Yaakov (Yankele)

Yaakov (Yankele), son of Esther and David Nunberg, was born on February 8, 1919 in the city of Radomsk, Poland, where he studied in a cheder. He made aliyah in 1936. After working for a few months as a carpenter, Yaakov volunteered for the Hagana and specialized in liaison, observation and signaling. He managed to bring weapons and ammunition hundreds of times to the defenders of the Old City. From the age of 16 and a half he began to train with weapons and went to positions at the most dangerous points. At the end of 1937, Yaakov volunteered to serve the railway guards and became famous for his courage. At that time Wingate chose him for the “Night Cruise” and took the eighteen-and-a-half-year-old boy with him on the dangerous attacks. He liked him very much and called him “My Little Boy”. After the outbreak of World War II, Yaakov volunteered for the first Jewish company (No. 738) in the British army and served for four years in Egypt, the Western Desert and Libya. His friends called him “Radio Nunberg” because of the stories of his many adventures in the previous services. He excelled in carrying out dangerous tasks, with precision and coolness. Twice he was demoted for offenses of caution, but by virtue of his service excellence he was promoted again. Yaakov took a heavy machine gun from the weapons he had rescued and carried it with great courage and resourcefulness through the British checks and guards, and brought it to one of the kibbutzim in the Jerusalem Hills. He would bring along many such “gifts” on all his travels. When the War of Independence began, he ran a national sabotage course in underground conditions.
In the winter of 1948, he would go out every night for sabotage operations. On the 3rd of Sivan, June 10, 1948, when the bombardment intensified, Yaakov ordered his comrades to retreat and he himself, despite their pleas to withdraw, left to finish. While digging, he hit a mine. The next day, when the first truce began, his body was collected and he was buried in Gal-On. After his death, he was awarded the rank of First Lieutenant (lieutenant). Around that time an article, “Yankele the Sapper”, appeared, in his memory. On 29 Iyar 5710 (29.9.1949), he was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. For complete memorial, see Hebrew biography.