Yekel, Yoel

Son of Hanna and Zvi-Michael, was born on February 27, 1915, in the city of Voroneka, Germany. After graduating from elementary school, he learned tailoring. Was rooted in German culture and far from Zionism, but with the rise of the Nazis he recognized his mistake. Yoel immigrated to Israel in 1933 as a tourist and stayed there. He abandoned his previous profession and decided to work in agriculture. He worked as a dairy farmer in various farms and later at the Jewish Agency’s Agricultural Research Station in Rehovot until he was a chief dairy farmer at the experimental station near Moshav Einot. He was a devoted member of the Haganah from the day he immigrated to Israel. In 1941, he enlisted in the British Army, where he served in Palestine and Egypt until he and thousands of his comrades went to the Jewish Brigade. Yoel fought on the Senio front in Italy and participated in the cleansing of northern Italy from the Nazi enemy. He was one of the activists in the illegal immigration and acquisition of arms for the Haganah. During the War of Independence he served as a sergeant, in accordance with his early military training, and fought with his unit in the Jerusalem area, in Latrun, and in the Upper Galilee. Yoel fell in battle in Givat Balaton on the 9th of Tishrei, 5709 (October 9, 1948.) He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Nahariya.