Yosef Haguel

Yosef Haguel was born in 1946 in Tel Aviv

Haguel was born in Tel Aviv on 8 September 1946. He grew up in Ramat Gan.

In the Six-Day War he fought with the 28th Battalion of the 55th Paratroopers Brigade. On 6 June 1967, during the fighting in Jerusalem, mortar fire badly wounded his legs. The medic Shlomo Epstein dragged him to a wall and covered him with his body, and Epstein was killed by another shell.

Haguel was evacuated and went through a long series of surgeries and rehabilitation. He returned to service and volunteered in the reserves for decades, fighting in the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War. He gathered more than 3,000 days of reserve duty.

His story became linked with the song "A Ballad for a Medic" by Dan Almagor. Haguel named his eldest son Shlomo after Epstein and spoke to students and soldiers about his rescue.

Haguel died at his home on 4 October 2026, while still listed in active reserve service. He was buried in the military plot of the Yehud-Neve Monosson cemetery.