Richlin, Zelig

Son of Esther and Isaac. He was born in 1921 in Jerusalem and completed his elementary studies at the Terra Santa High School, where he was active in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, and from his youth he was the living spirit among his friends. And was sent to the prison, but was released shortly thereafter due to his young age.In 1940 he enlisted in the British army and was assigned to the Hebrew transport unit 462. In the ranks of his unit, he soon rose to the ranks and became a rabbi In the framework of his position, he managed to smuggle weapons from the Protectorate to the Land of Israel in the framework of the Hagana organization, and not one by chance His unit was to be among the forces that were to participate in the invasion of Sicily, the invasion force was supposed to take action from Malta, and the transport unit 462 was brought aboard the ship “Arinapura”, which was sailing at the head of the convoy to Malta on 27 Nissan 5703 (1943) In the afternoon, a German reconnaissance aircraft passed over the German convoy and the “Arinfora”, which led the Jewish fighters, suffered two direct hits and within four minutes it went down into the depths. Zelig, who was one of the first survivors, returned to the ship several times and rescued soldiers who were trapped there, but was unable to extricate himself. One hundred and forty of the soldiers of the unit drowned in the waves, Selig among them. He put down a brother and two sisters. 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.