Yohanan Elishuv, last surviving fighter who raised Eilat's Ink Flag in 1948, dies at 95

Yohanan Elishuv, the last surviving fighter who took part in the raising of the Ink Flag at Umm Rashrash, modern-day Eilat, at the end of the War of Independence, died at age 95.

A Palmach fighter from the generation that fought for Israel's independence, Elishuv served as a runner and driver, fought in some of the fiercest battles along the road to Jerusalem and in the Negev, and ultimately took part in an event that became one of the enduring symbols of the young State of Israel.

The raising of the makeshift Israeli flag at Umm Rashrash on March 10, 1949, came at the end of Operation Uvda and is generally regarded as marking the conclusion of the War of Independence. The troops reached the abandoned police station without a national flag, prompting soldiers to create what became known as the Ink Flag.

Elishuv was born in Petah Tikva to Haya and Moshe. His father had come from Russia, from a family of Subbotnik converts whose original surname was Sapinkov, while his mother immigrated from Bessarabia.

As a child, Elishuv struggled with severe dyslexia. He left school at 12 and worked in a garage, where he developed technical skills that would later prove useful during his military service.

At about 15, he falsified his age, claiming to be 16 so that he could join the Palmach. He combined work and military training at Givat Ada, where his platoon commander was Rafael "Raful" Eitan, who would later become IDF chief of staff.

Battle for Jerusalem

Elishuv's connection with Haim Poznanski, known as "Poza," commander of Company B of the Palmach's Fourth Battalion, began after Elishuv quickly repaired a mechanical problem in Poznanski's pickup truck. Impressed, Poznanski made the young fighter his personal runner during the battles for the road to Jerusalem.

Poznanski was killed in April 1948 at Nabi Samuel, one month after his brother Yitzhak was killed at Beit Keshet. Elishuv survived the bloody battle at Nabi Samuel, escaping under cover of heavy fog, an experience that left him with a lifelong fondness for foggy days. Every year, he visited Poznanski's grave at Kiryat Anavim and took his children with him to honor his former commander and fellow fighters.

Following the failed Nabi Samuel operation, Elishuv helped organize the retreat, evacuate the wounded, and recover weapons.

During the battle for Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood, he was among the fighters who evacuated Eitan and David "Dado" Elazar, both future IDF chiefs of staff, after they were wounded. According to the account of his wartime service, the two wounded commanders had prepared grenades to avoid being captured.

Elishuv later fought at Beit Siris, helped secure the Jerusalem road in the Sha'ar Hagai area, participated in the capture of Beit Iksa and Beit Mahsir, and took part in an attempt to break into Jerusalem's Old City through Zion Gate. The battles for Jerusalem and its supply routes were among the central fronts of the 1948 war, with Palmach and other Hagana units taking part in efforts to break the siege of the city.

During the first truce in June 1948, Elishuv was transferred to the southern front under Uzi Narkiss. He was wounded after driving over a mine and hospitalized, but returned to combat after recovering.

Elishuv's fight across the Negev

He subsequently fought in the isolated Negev, Operation Yoav, the capture of Beersheba, Operation Lot, Operation Horev, and finally Operation Uvda. Palmach veterans of the Negev Brigade took part in several of those campaigns, including Operations Yoav, Horev, and Uvda.

During Operation Uvda, Elishuv was appointed driver to Southern Front commander Yigal Allon. According to the account of his life, when Narkiss offered him the position, Elishuv responded irreverently that if Narkiss, with two rank bars, was trouble, then Allon, with three, would be three times as much trouble.

Allon reportedly laughed and said he wanted a man who feared nothing.

Elishuv later drove the command and reconnaissance jeep carrying Negev Brigade commander Nahum Sarig as the brigade raced south in an informal contest with Golani Brigade troops to reach Umm Rashrash first.

He was among the first group of fighters to reach the police station there on March 10, 1949. The Negev Brigade troops raised the improvised Ink Flag, an image that became one of the defining photographs of the War of Independence.

Afterward, Negev Brigade commander Sarig and Golani Brigade commander Nahum Golan transmitted a message to the Israeli government announcing that the brigades were presenting the Gulf of Eilat to the State of Israel.

After leaving regular service in 1949, Elishuv served in the Artillery Corps reserves and participated in the 1956 Sinai Campaign, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, and the First Lebanon War.

In civilian life, he worked for about 30 years as a heavy-vehicle driver for Solel Boneh. His work included building roads to Eilat and helping develop southern Israel, the Dead Sea, Sodom, and the Negev's crater region. He later worked as a purchasing agent in the company's industrial division.

After retirement, he and his wife volunteered with a diabetes association.

Elishuv survived three bouts of cancer and had three children: Ofer, a doctor at Hadassah; Yoav, who works at Ichilov Hospital; and Merav, a lawyer. In his later years, he was invited to speak at pre-military academies and high schools about the legacy of Israel's War of Independence.

Elishuv died in his bed in his Petah Tikva apartment, on the same plot of land where he had been born 95 years earlier.

He is set to be buried at Segula Cemetery in Petah Tikva on Monday, in the city where he was born, lived, and died.