Umpalt, Alter Idel (Israel)

Alter Idel (Israel), son of Sara and Zvi Umpalt, was born on the 29th of Nissan, May 9, 1929 in Janow-Lubelski, Poland, to a fairly well-to-do family. Alter was a popular, talented student. At start of World War II and the Nazi invasion of Poland, he was forced to stop school without graduating.
The family waited in the camp at Hazeneh near Kassel, hoping for the possibility of immigration. With the recruitment of members of the Haganah to the IDF, after the establishment of the State, Alter Idel enlisted. Alter immigrated to Israel and immediately upon his arrival was placed in a combat unit in the Givati ​​Brigade and served on the front, around the “Triangle”. Alter participated in fierce battles against the Iraqi invaders as a soldier in an artillery unit. His family arrived in Israel three months before his fall, after receiving from him enthusiastic letters about the country and his service. Two days before his fall he was
on a short vacation home, but restless, he shortened his vacation and returned to the front. On the 2nd of Shevat (3.1.1949), he participated in the battle to repel the enemy’s attack on an outpost that had been occupied the night before in the Ramat Hakovesh area. He fought “like a machine gun” until the last moments of his life. Alter Idel, and was wounded in his heart. He had enough
time to call to his friends, “I died for the homeland” – and died. Alter was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak.