Yehoshua Yahalom

Yehoshua Yahalom was born in 1943 in Kiryat Motzkin

Yehoshua (Shuka) Finkelstein was born in Kiryat Motzkin in 1943. After studying at a military boarding school, he moved alone as a teenager to Kibbutz Maoz Haim. His parents joined the kibbutz some years later.

He was drafted into the IDF in 1961 and completed infantry, armored infantry and armored company commander courses. As a reservist he took part in the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition.

He worked in the cotton branch at Maoz Haim and was about to begin engineering studies at the Technion. He was married and had 3 children.

In the Yom Kippur War he commanded a jeep company in Reconnaissance Battalion 134 of Brigade 179. After many company commanders were hit, he learned to operate the Centurion tank, gathered remaining tanks and crews, and led them as an armored company on the Golan Heights. He was killed on 11 October 1973 near the Syrian front line during the breakthrough battle of Division 210.

He was buried at Maoz Haim and in September 1975 was posthumously awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service. His name appears on several memorials, including Yad LaShiryon.