I was born 81 years ago in Algeria in the town of Setif, situated 300 kilometres from the capital of Algeria,. Algiers at one time had been the center of the revolution.
On 8th May 1945, when the world was celebrating the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, the people of Setif marched through the main streets of the city demanding independence; this was the first time in the history of Algeria that this had happened. This event turned violent, and brought about the deaths of many people, some with European citizenship, and some of them Jews.
Following the creation of the State of Israel on 14th May 1948, I decided to volunteer and join those fighting for the future of the State of Israel. For a short while I was at the Grand Arénas camp in Marseilles in the south of France, and from there I travelled illegally on a small fishing boat to Israel. After a two-week journey we reached Haifa, and all the men aboard were taken to a camp in Kfar Saba. There we were shown how to use a rifle and how to throw grenades. In the middle of the night we were transferred to Latrun where the battles were tough. I was hit by grenade shrapnel and spent a number of days in an army hospital.
Following my stay in hospital, I was drafted into the Palmach Yiftach Brigade, serving in the north on the border with Syria. Thereafter I was drafted into the French Commandos, serving in their final battles of the “Faluja Pocket” (Yoav).
With the cessation of the War of Independence I volunteered for an Officers Course. At that time two representatives of the French Embassy in Tel Aviv managed to trace me. They followed me relentlessly. I was forced to serve in the French Algerian Army and to return to Algeria to serve the obligatory year-and-a-half military service.
On completion of this service, and to discourage me from returning to Israel, my father purchased a clothing shop and I was placed there as manager. In 1954 war broke out in Algeria. Seven years later, in 1961, I left Algeria under difficult conditions, and reached France where I managed to find work in a women’s undergarment factory, where I worked until the situation forced the factory to close down in 1968. I continued working in the clothing trade until 1980, and in September 1980 I finally returned to Israel with my wife and three children, and settled in Jerusalem.
Source: Yehoshua Drai, May 2011