Vinn, Mordechai

Son of Malka and Arieh was born on December 5, 1929, in Lodz, Poland, to a family of workers, and immigrated to Israel at the age of five. Mordechai grew up in Haifa, where he began to work to help his parents’ home Was a plumber by profession, and as a youngster he joined Hapoel in Haifa and was a great soccer player, with the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to partition the country into two states on November 29, 1947. As a soldier he participated in activities to secure transportation between Haifa and Zichron Yaakov, between Nahariya and Yehiam, and in the battle for the Arab Ammunition convoy near Kiryat Motzkin. “We have no choice, we must win” – these were the words of the 18-year-old Mordechai, when asked if the fear is not valid in the many battles he participates in. On April 21, 1948, when he came for a three-day vacation to his home in Haifa, he heard that his unit had set out to conquer the house of the najada in Wadi Rushmiya. Mordecai immediately stopped his vacation and joined the burglars, and the head of the machine-gun squad stormed the house when his unit followed him. Part of the missions to the squad members was seriously injured and died. In his last moments he called out, “Take care of my friends and forward.” He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Haifa.