Flying Universal Airways from Palmietfontein to Rome, very early in September, some of my fellow passengers were Jack Patlansky, Bernard Judelsohn, Zelig Genn, Lionel Narunsky, Essie Shapiro, Eric Herr, and Harry Goldstein.
Like most South Africans we were booked into the Boston Hotel. I was under the impression that we would be flown to Israel, but in the end the group was broken up and sailed in different vessels, at different times. Cannot remember the name of the ship but it was a cargo vessel converted to take many displaced persons. Having been half way through my articles and studies to qualify as a Pharmacist, my original intention was to join the medical corps. After a boring three weeks at the pharmacy of a hospital I requested a transfer to Gedud Tesha of the Palmach Hanegev where I was reunited with some of my original group, Jack Patlansky, Bernard Judelsohn, Eric Herr, and Harry Goldstein.
In the beginning, I served in the Mortar Group but eventually landed up with the armored car platoon, shortly after they had been involved in the capture of Beersheva. Together with Bernard Judelsohn, I returned home in June 1949 via Switzerland, France and the U.K.