. Rushed with the other wounded fighters to the hospital, he had to have surgery without being given anethstesia. Throughout the several hour ordeal, awake on the operating table as they worked on him, he kept repeating to himself in the grips of immense pain, "A LECHI Man doesn't groan". He ended up losing an eye from his massive head wound and has a glass eye until this day.
Yakhin is still active to this day. Though over 80 years old, he lives in an old Jewish neighborhood which, since the Jordanian occupation of eastern Jerusalem, is now occupied by hostile Arabs. The apartment building he lives in is inhabited by a group of Jewish families and married couples who aren't afraid to re-establish their Jewish roots there.
An excerpt from his book, Elnakam:
"No sleep for you tonight," says Tanchum. "You're to go to the Abu-el Bassal quarter and mark the movements of the army there. What we need is information about the movements of military vehicles in the path joining the Beit Yaakov and Zichron Yoseph quarters."
We went to look for the place best suited for the look-out base, finally choosing the brick factory in Sadoff's yard, where I could hide all night behind a pile of bricks and observe the movements of the vehicles on the path. I didn't go home this time to tell my parents that I was "sleeping at a friend's place," I simply couldn't face the fearful look in their eyes, knowing full well how anxious they would be. Obviously, they would not be slow in making a connection between my absence and the acts against the Brits, and their feelings, when I failed to return that night were not hard to imagine. On the other hand if I didn't let them know in advance, they might comfort themselves with the thought that I had been caught breaking curfew and arrested. This wasn't pleasant, but implied a fine at the most.
So – no going home. As curfew time approached I was ensconced behind my pile of bricks. Each of the neighbors nearby took a last look at the yard before lowering their shutters and locking their doors, and they all saw me there. To avoid their worried glances I slipped around to the other side of the pile, making myself fully visible to the patrols enforcing the curfew. Only after everybody was shut inside the houses did I slip back – only to be cordially invited by someone peeping through the shutters to go in and stay till the morning. Ignoring the invitation I waited tensely for darkness to fall.
The noise of army vehicles touring the area filled the night. Sometimes they would stop to permit a foot patrol to get out. At times, some men talking English, approached my brick pile, and I couldn't tell whether they were just loitering or going straight for me. Hearing a vehicle approaching I would raise my head to see it, risking being seen by a passing patrol. I could hear them but it was too dark to see them. Conversely, I realized that my dark figure could be easily made out on the background of white bricks, and I was just what the enemy was looking for. There…. They were coming, now! They had seen me and where could I hide? They were getting nearer. Their English fell painfully on my ear. No place to run…. "
If you want a book that will educate you, make you laugh and cry, show you miracles and is just one darned good read of a true story of the heroes that fought for the Jewish homeland after 2,000 years of forced exile, GET THIS BOOK, ELNAKAM.