David Fromer

David Fromer was born in 1920 in Poland

David Fromer was born in Poland on December 9, 1920. He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1936. He served in the Notrim unit and in the Palmach-era field units known as Fosh.

In World War II he volunteered from the Yishuv for the British Royal Navy. He served in the Combined Operations unit and took part in commando missions. After his release he ran a workshop in Haifa.

He specialized in making sabotage devices and was among the founders of the naval sabotage squad. He trained with its members in Italy, and in 1948 he helped in an operation that blew up Egyptian transport planes at an airfield in Venice.

He served as an officer in Shayetet 13 and later joined Unit 131, where he worked on sabotage missions and on plans tied to the Lavon Affair prisoners and Operation Tushiya. He returned to Shayetet 13 as operations officer and in 1959 led a force into Beirut port. In 1960 he became acting commander of the unit until Dov Shapir took over.

He died on October 30, 2000, and was buried in Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery.