Daniel Levi, the son of Ventura and Yitzhak, was born in Santa Clara in Cuba on 6th January 1927. He completed his elementary schooling in the town of Matanzas. After the family moved to the Cuban capital, Havana, he continued his studies and completed high school with honors, and was awarded a bursary to study medicine at university.
After qualifying, he worked for a short while at the Kalistogacia Hospital in Havana. In addition to being an excellent scholar, he was also an excellent sportsman, and active in the Maccabi Zionist movement in his city.
In 1947 he was mobilized into activities to promote the Irgun Zvai Leumi (Etzel), where he organized a group of eighteen youngsters (himself included) who were ready to move to Palestine on the “Altalena”, which would be carrying volunteers, arms, and equipment for the movement in Israel.
On reaching their destination, the vessel, its crew and the volunteers were involved in tragic fighting when fired upon by the Haganah, resulting in the deaths of eighteen Jewish fighters of both Etzel and the Haganah, as well as forty wounded.
Daniel was killed by fire directed at the ship from Haganah positions in Tel Aviv in 22nd June 1948. He was survived by his parents and four siblings.
He was laid to rest at the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf.