Sha’abi, Menahem(“The Blacksmith”)

Son of Zecharya and Miriam, was born in Tel Aviv on July 22, 1925. In 1941, he enlisted in the British Army after he had raised his age to be accepted by the army. Menahem first served in the Unit 6C, and in 1943 he was transferred to Unit 744 in the Royal Engineers’ Battalion. He was then transferred to Eretz Israel and from there to Italy where he was awarded a medal of distinction, and was released in 1946. A few months later, Menahem enlisted in the Jewish settlement police in the village of Szold, where he was among the five guards who were captured by Syrian gendarmes and released by the intervention of the British Mandate government and became a field guard in the village of Szold. At the outbreak of the War of Independence, Menachem was transferred to Ayelet Hashahar and served in supplies. During a major attack on Szold, there was a rumor about wounded among the defenders. Menahem rushed to the village of Szold, but was sent back by a group of guards, who considered it a hopeless risk because the road was blocked. On another occasion, when Menahem was driving the armored vehicle, that had set out for Ramot Naftali, the convoy was attacked by Arab gangs from the ambush near the Nabi Yusha police station. A bullet penetrated through the armored shutter, Menahem was hit and fell on the 15th of Adar II, 5748 (March 26, 1948). On the 27th of Elul 5709 (21.9.1949) he was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak.