Yonker, Reuven (Rudy)

Reuven (Rudy), son of Henrietta and Yeshayahu Yonker, was born in 1927 in the free city of Danzig, between Germany and Poland. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the family managed to escape from there. They immigrated to Israel in 1940 aboard the illegal immigrant ship “Atlantic” and were deported from the port of Haifa to the island of Mauritius. When they were released from their detention there, they came to Israel in 1945 and settled in Nahariya. In 1947, Reuven joined the Haganah. At the beginning of the War of Independence, he worked in fortifications in the Metzuba group, after which he joined the Carmeli Brigade and fought in its ranks. During Operation Brosh to destroy the Syrian bridgehead in the Mishmar Hayarden area, Reuven fell in battle defending this outpost, on the 3rd of Tammuz 5708 (July 10, 1948.) He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Rosh Pina.