Haim Ben-David

Haim Ben-David was born in 1919 in Vienna

Haim Ben-David was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1919. He studied at the local Hebrew school and joined the Zionist youth movement Gordonia. In 1938 he immigrated to the Land of Israel.

He joined the Haganah and was among the first fighters of the Special Night Squads, guarding the oil pipeline to Haifa. He settled in the Beit She'an Valley and became the first Hish commander there.

In the War of Independence he was a company commander in the Carmeli Brigade. He fought at Ramat Yohanan and took part in Operation Dekel and Operation Hiram.

In 1951 he became assistant to Mordechai Maklef, and in 1955 he commanded in the Golani Brigade. After the suicide of Nehemiah Argov he became Ben-Gurion's Military Secretary. In 1963 he was named head of the Manpower Directorate, and in 1964 he was promoted to Aluf.

He left the army in 1966 and became Israel's ambassador to Ethiopia. He was killed in a plane accident in November 1967 while flying from Addis Ababa to a farm run by Israelis. He was married with 3 sons and is buried in Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery.