Benjamin, son of Chana and Shlomo Eichler, was born on March 26, 1929 (14 Adar Bet 5689) in Tolscva, Hungary. He was fluent in three languages: Hungarian, Yiddish and German.
In 1941, when he was 12 years old, he joined the “Betar Youth Movement” (a revisionist youth movement founded in 1923 by Ze’ev Zabotinsky).
As a youth, he suffered the horrific events of WWII. During his wanderings through Europe after the war, he met up with members of the IZ”L (Irgun Tzva’i Leumi). This was a Jewish underground military movement, established in Jerusalem in 1931. It was established by commanders who broke away from the “Hagana”, demanding to act decisively against Arab aggression at that time, especially the aggression during the riots of 1929. Most of its members were young people from the revisionist movement of “Betar”. Benjamin joined the technological school “Massada” that was affiliated with the “Betar” Movement. The school was founded and run by Samuel (Shmuel) Milek Batalion in 1947 in Darmstadt, Germany, and functioned for ten months until 1948, giving young people who had been saved from the Holocaust some education, the will to live and preparation for life in Israel. The students studied welding and becoming locksmiths, carpentry, and other subjects, including Hebrew, Jewish Philosophy, Gymnastics, and the basic ideology of “Betar” and Zionism. They also received military training.
Benjamin’s IZ”L membership card states that he had been trained as a carpenter and a glazier. His ID number was 10720 and his rank was company commander.
In June, 1948, Benjamin Eichler left the “Massada” school and set sail for Israel aboard the SS Altalena, a ship carrying weapons that was bought by the IZ”L. The ship arrived at the shores of Israel after its maiden voyage. On June 22, 1948 it went up in flames due to a shot of a cannon ball that was aimed at the ship by ZH”L (the Israeli Armed Forces).
In spite of the outcome of the Altalena caused by the ZH”L, Benjamin joined the army, received his military ID number, 94214, and was assigned to Regiment 12 of “Golani”. The regiment participated in “Operation Chorev”, a massive attack by ZH”L against the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (a logistics force able to be self sufficient for a long time away from its base) during its final stages of the War of Independence.
Private Benjamin Eichler was killed on January 7, 1949 (6 Tevet, 5709), approximately half a year after he arrived in Israel, during the battle to conquer the Egyptian army posts in Rafia during “Operation Chorev”, and was temporarily buried at Kibbutz Gvulot.
Approximately half a year later, on August 11, 1949 (16 Menachem Av, 5709), Benjamin was laid to rest at the Site for Heroes at the Military Cemetery in Nahalat Yitzchak in Tel Aviv.
The partial details of Benjamin's (Binyamin) life appear on the site of the Ministry of Defense.
His story was completed in 2016 by researchers of “Giving a Face to the Fallen”.