Weinstein, Shmaryahu
Son of Gitta and Uri. Born in 1913 in Braslav, Ukraine, in 1934 he moved to Eretz Israel, where he worked first in a building in Tel Aviv and later as a port worker. With the outbreak of World War II, he served in the Dunkirk system in France, and from there he was transferred to the Libyan front and attached to the commando unit 51. This unit was later sent to the front of the war for the liberation of Ethiopia by the Italians, and Shmaryahu was among the conquerors of a fortified Italian position at the summit of the mountain in the vicinity of Keren, Eritrea. On 6 Adar, March 5, 1941, the Italians launched a counter-attack and surrounded Shmaryahu’s unit, When the order to break through the encirclement ring was left, Shmaryahu and his friend Yitzhak Ulrich remained by the machine gun while covering their assaulting comrades. Thirty-seven of the men of the platoon managed, in face-to-face combat, to break their way to retreat, but Shmaryahu and Yitzhak fell from the fire of the Italians. Shmaryahu was buried in a British military cemetery in the base of the camp. He left a wife and a 6-year-old boy, parents and brother. In letters of condolence to his brother, his friends wrote: “He fell like a true hero … with his heroism and courage he saved the whole company … generous heart… bravehearted and spirited.” His memory was immortalized in the book of volunteerism published by the Bialik Institute, and a report was published in the Davar newspaper on April 7, 1941. An investigation conducted in 2017 found that his resting place was in Kwewn, Eritrea. Grade 4D3 Location Pioneer Corps Rank Pioneer.
