Proper, Joseph

He was born in 1917 in Dynov, Poland, and completed his studies in a high school in his hometown, where he was a member of the Hanoar Hazioni Movement and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1935. He immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1935 and joined a kibbutz in Beer Yaakov. He was described by his friends as a handsome, cheerful, and jovial young man who was loved by all his friends, and during the 1936 riots Joseph was a member of the Haganah and filled various guard missions. When World War II broke out he was one of the first conscripts to enlist in the British army and was assigned to the transport corps. He served in the country and was later transferred with his unit to Egypt. In late April 1943, a convoy of Allied ships left Egypt for Europe via Malta. On one of the ships, which brought troops to Europe, there were also soldiers of Joseph’s unit. On the afternoon of 27 Nisan, 1.5.1943, a German reconnaissance plane circled over the ships and bombed the convoy of ships. In the bombing, Joseph’s ship was also damaged. One hundred and forty of the company’s soldiers, including Corporal Yosef, perished in the disaster. His name was immortalized in the Book of Journalists, in the Book of Volunteerism, and in the book Yizkor. In the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, a ship-shaped monument was erected in memory of those who were 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.