The son of Avraham and Chana, Richard Sheinhorn was born in Germany in 1925, and arrived in England with the Kindertransport groups at the eleventh hour, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He was educated in England.
He arrived in Israel via France on the ship “Kedmah” on 17th April 1948 with three friends from Stamford Hill, all ex-Kindertransport – Sidney Steller, Joe Fishbaum and Benno Katz. He was the only one of the four who had no military experience. The other three had served in the British Army and later in the Jewish Brigade. He knew no-one in Israel, only his friends from the UK. Together, they all volunteered for the 51st Battalion of the Givati Brigade.
During the night between 9th and 10th June 1948, while occupying defensive positions on Hill 69 near Beit Daras, they came under heavy fire from the Egyptians, who then attacked in the early morning with tanks, half-tracks, and infantry. The rest of the platoon withdrew without notifying the group of the four friends.
Katz was knocked unconscious by a blast. The other three soldiers, Steller, Fishbaum, and Sheinhorn, died on 10th June 1948 while holding their ground till the bitter end.
All three were listed as missing for a considerable time. They were finally laid to rest at the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery on 31st August 1950.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf