WORLD MACHAL - Volunteers from overseas in the Israel Defense Forces

Personal Stories

There are over 400 personal stories on this website. Please use the SEARCH bars in order to find names of interest to you. If you are are aware of missing names or you have stories to contribute please use the CONTACT menu at the top or the FORM at the bottom of each page.

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Ruth Stern

RUTH STERN (NEE SARETZKY) – MY MACHAL STORY My experiences as a volunteer nurse, 1948-1949, during the Israel War of Independence. Ruth Stern

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Bill Katz

B-17 BOMBER PILOT – 69th SQUADRON Bill  Katz (far left);  Ben-Gurion (Derek Bowden behind Ben-Gurion ).Far right – Haim Laskov (Head of Training

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Gordon Levett

NON-JEWISH TRANSPORT AND FIGHTER PILOT Gordon Levett came from a background so poor that his widowed mother had to place him in an

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Lawrence (Locky) Fainman

ARMY – 7TH BRIGADE, 72ND BATTALION INTRODUCTION TO “LOCKY” FAINMAN’S DIARY Back row – Left to Right: Gordon Mandelzweig, “Locky” Fainman, David Susman

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Tom Derek Bowden

Remembering Tom Derek Bowden – Haaretz 4.7.2019 Nom de guerre CAPTAIN DAVID APPEL The English-speaking Machal boys of the “B” company of the

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Dr. Gershon Gitlin

Written by his widow, Dr. Miriam Gitlin My husband Dr. Gershon Gitlin of Capetown, having served with the South African Medical Corps and

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Sam Wasser

IDF No. 63117 Sam had never received any military training before being assigned to the 72nd Infantry Battalion, made up largely of Anglo-Saxon

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Harold (Smoky) Simon

I completed my studies for the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.), and Chartered Accountant (C.A.) in December 1940, and I joined the

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Michael Brecker

ARMY (4TH ANTI-TANK TROOP)AND ALTALENA MICHAEL BRECKER ARMY NUMBER 92596Extracts from my Memoirs as a Volunteer in Israel’s War of Independence1948 – 1949

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Hativa Sheva

1948 – The 7TH BRIGADE Hativat Sheva was established during the hell of Latrun.  From the very beginning Machal volunteers fought in its

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Elchanan Sela

(ARMAND RUTTENBERG) Elchanan Sela was contacted by Etzel when they learned of his visit to the British Consulate in France from  one of

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Solly Ganor

(formerly Solly Genkind, IDF No: 58145) Durng the night between October 28th and 29th, 1948, the 72nd Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade

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Howard Cossman

HOWARD (CHAIM) COSSMAN72nd Infantry Battalion, IDF No:  63118 Howard Cossman recalled: “Having seen the picture of a Jewish girl with a rifle on

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Abe Levine

IDF No. 76440 The group I traveled with went from New York to Marseilles via Le Havre and Paris, and onwards to a

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Louis Laurie

At Grand Arenas camp near Marseilles the volunteers were obliged to hand over their passports and take on the identity of a Holocaust

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Eli Zagoria

Soon after my arrival in Israel from South Africa, I was sent to a camp near Haifa where I helped to establish a

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Ronnie Slender

Having matriculated in December 1945, I immediately joined the peace-time South African Navy, specializing in radar. During Pesach 1948, when I was home

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