Yosef, Shmuel

Shmuel, the only son of Rosa and Aryeh Leib was born on 27.2.1929 in Liepaja, Latvia. In 1935, at the age of six, Yosef and his family immigrated to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv. Shmuel was drafted in December 1947 but received a deferment until he passed the London matriculation exams in January 1948. In February 1948, immediately after completing his studies, Shmuel was in full service in the Givati ​​Brigade. He participated in battles to clean up the south, in Kobeiba, Yavneh, Akir and elsewhere, and in the war against the Egyptian invader.
In April 1948 he was wounded near Tel Nof, but out of concern for his parents, did not inform them until he recovered. When Shmuel left the hospital, he relinquished his right not to serve on the front, as a wounded child and as an only son, and returned to his unit, which was at the front. Since he knew five languages ​​- Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Russian, and German – he was appointed deputy cultural officer in the battalion of the “Shfela” Brigade. With the renewal of the fighting, Shmuel fought again until the full liberation of the Negev. Shmuel fell in the line of duty on the 15th of Tevet, January 16, 1949 in a road accident on his way from Majdal to Jolis. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Rehovot.