Early in 1948 my then fiancé, Reuben Joffe, who had served in South African army radar during World War II, was approached to go to Israel by Yoel Palgi, who was visiting S. Africa on behalf of the Haganah. Reuben and I had planned to marry in September and probably because of the urgent need for radar personnel, Palgi agreed to our request that we go together.
To expedite travel documents in my married name, we arranged an early civil marriage prior to the wedding proper, which we brought forward to May 5th and we left for Palestine on May 12th.
We were 10 passengers; our friend Colin Gluckman (later to change his name to Gillon and to become the State Attorney, who prepared the Eichman case but who unfortunately died before the trial) and his wife Saada with their two children, Dov and Elsie Judah, who married a few days after we did, Dr Stanley Levin and a gentleman whose name we don’t remember and who kept very much to himself and us. Colin had been in S. Africa on a mission for the Haganah.
On the last leg of the flight, our pilot diverted to Nicosia, Cyprus ostensibly due to technical problems, but next morning we discovered he had been frightened by a story of planes confiscated by the “mad Haganah” and the arrest of non-Jewish Pilots. He refused to fly us to Israel and started drinking until he became completely drunk.
Stranded in Cyprus and surrounded by hostile Cypriot Police we heard BBC news broadcasts about Egyptian air raids doing huge damage to Tel Aviv, Arab Armies inflicting heavy casualties on all fronts, advancing on Haifa and already on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. We began to fear there was no longer any purpose in our going on to Israel.
Stan Levin located Mary Gordon, the well-known South African physician who was then working in the Jewish refugee camps in Cyprus. She was excited to learn Reuben’s name as she had delivered him at birth. She said she could possibly get us on one of the boats taking refugees to Haifa.
Next morning, at the airfield, a piper-cub landed and to my surprise, the pilot was a schoolmate, Tuxie Blau, ostensibly on his way to Rome but really on his way to deliver his plane to Israel. Next day a Rapide brought Golda Meir on her way to the U.S.A. to invite Chaim Weizmann to be the first President of Israel. Gillon knew her well. He introduced us and told her of our predicament.
Golda was flying to Paris and from there on a commercial flight to the U.S.A. She arranged to send the Rapide back to take us to Israel and gave us news of the fighting which greatly improved our morale. We realized how slanted the news was that we were getting in Cyprus.
We all had so many pieces of luggage that when Golda’s plane returned we had to decide whether we all would go, without our luggage, or only the Gillons with their luggage. We decided that the Gillons should go as they had two small children and Colin would inform the “powers-that-be” of our plight and arrange for us to get to Israel.
Next day, an Arab Airways Cessna landed. The British pilot offered to take us to Haifa. He said he knew we were Jews but did not look like Zionists. It turned out he was the mail courier for the Iraq Petroleum Co.
In Haifa, where the British were still in charge, immigration officials were dubious about our credentials but allowed us in after I called my uncle, David Katz, who was postmaster of Haifa. Next morning we were put on a bus to Tel Aviv. The journey took over 4 hours as the regular road was still held by Arabs who were shooting at Jewish vehicles. We traveled via Wadi Milek and then from Zichron Yaakov, Hadera, Petach Tikva and on to Tel Aviv.
Reuben met up with Jack Segall and others who were organizing the beginnings of a radar unit to be named squadron 505. Although married women were not required to enlist, I joined the Air Force. Because of my qualifications (B.A. Social Studies) I was assigned to the Welfare office. All 505 HQ personnel were billeted there but, as the only married couple, Reuben and I did not move to Sarafand. When Machaneh Ariel opened in Jaffa, we shared a flat there with 3 other couples.
I was assigned to the Welfare Officer in the Yarkon Hotel and then to Machaneh Ariel. One memorable experience was attending to 3 British volunteers who arrived on the “Altalena” with only the clothes that they were wearing, having been shot at and almost drowned.
Another moving experience involved a Palmach soldier, the only survivor of his platoon from the battle for Latrun. I don’t remember how he got to Air Force HQ. I spent a lot of time with him helping to restore his sanity.
During our service, Reuben and I became active in the formation of Moshav Habonim. Solly Ossin had brought information about the principles and practical workings of a Moshav Shitufi which he had gained from the cultural officer of his unit, a member of Moshav Moledet. The concept was very close to the ideas of communal living which our group had already been planning in South Africa. We approached others and during 1948 we spent many hours discussing our ambitions to form a Moshav after the war. We were pleasantly surprised at the interest we found among all Machal.
With the help of Haim Krispin, Lionel Schwartz and others, the Allenby cinema was made available to us for a meeting on a Saturday afternoon. To our amazement, the hall was almost filled to capacity. The project came to fruition with the establishment of Moshav Habonim on the sea front near Atlit. As the project ran contrary to kibbutz-oriented officialdom, official cooperation was non-existent to the extent that Avraham Hartsfeld, head of the settlement department of the Jewish Agency, did not attend the official opening ceremony of the Moshav in 1949.