IDF No: 54066
The son of Eliahu and Louisa, Mordechai Halimi was born in Constantine, Algeria, on 11th January 1926. He received a Jewish education, was employed as a garage mechanic, and later worked for the Algerian Railways. He was a good sportsman and loved to work in the family garden and poultry pen, and in his spare time he made toys.
As an Algerian patriot he volunteered to fight the Nazis, enlisting in the Free French Forces on 14th January 1944. He served in the 15th Senegalese Rifles Regiment. On 9th Janaury 1946, upon being discharged from the French Army, he helped the emissary in Algieria to encourage young Jews to volunteer for the struggle in Eretz Israel.
Because of the heroic battles being waged in Israel, he left Algieria on 7th July 1948 to participate in Israel’s War of Independence. In letters to his brother, who was mobilized into the French military in Indo-China, he wrote of his enthusiasm about playing a part in the war, of the stand of the few against the many, and expressed his confidence in eventual victory. He remained devoted to his Jewish education and never missed praying three times a day. He was a brave and fearless soldier who loved his comrades.
As a member of the French Commando Company of the 9th Battalion of Palmach Hanegev, he fell in “Operation Horev” on 26th December 1948, when he was hit by a burst of machine gun fire on the road between Bur Asluj and Auja-al-Hafir.
He was buried at the cemetery at Kibbutz Revivim.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf.