Tzipman, Chaim (Chaimke)

Chaim, son of Leah and Moshe, was born in 1931 in Moshav Merhavia and studied for 10 years in a children’s village. At the beginning of the War of Independence, Chaim was only 16 and a half years old. He stopped his studies and enlisted in the Palmach, joining the Yiftach Brigade. His parents tried to convince him that he was too young to do so, but he said he could not sit in the house when so much blood was being shed. During the first truce, the brigade participated in the “Danny” operation, and on July 17-18, 1948, towards the beginning of the second truce, the “Haemek” battalion seized Shilat and an outpost in the eastern part of the Korikor ridge. In the battle of the outpost from two directions, with the help of armored vehicles, they were forced to retreat, and on the 11th of Tammuz 5708 (18.7.1948), as a machine gunner, Chaim was injured in his stomach and legs and died of his wounds. He was 17 at the time of his death, and on the 11th of Adar (28.2.1950) he was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.