Monroe Fein

Monroe Fein was born in Chicago to a middle-class Jewish family in 1923. His father was a lawyer and a donor to Zionist causes. As a child, he excelled in swimming, running, and boxing. Following the outbreak of World War II, Fein cut short his studies and enlisted in the United States Navy. Fein was discharged from the Navy in 1946. He returned to Chicago and found work as the office manager of a publishing house in Chicago. After the Altalena Affair, Fein went on to study engineering in Berkeley. The woman who had nursed him back to health, Malca Yefet, reconnected with him in New York City. They married on April 21, 1949. In 1952, the couple moved to Israel with their first child. After six months, unable to find suitable employment, the family returned to the United States, where Fein was offered a job at General Electric. He later worked for a water and electricity company in California. Malka found work as a nurse in Santa Monica. The couple had four children: Dan, Kenny, Richard, and Sharona.

Fein died in Santa Monica on July 2, 1982, at the age of 59.

He attained the rank of Lieutenant and was appointed commander of a transport ship. His ship saw action in the Pacific, participating in the Marshall Islands campaign. He later served on an aircraft carrier that participated in raids on Japan.

Some of the crew of the Altalena

In Chicago, Fein volunteered to help the Zionist cause. He met Irgun representative Avraham Stavsky, and was appointed captain of the Altalena on behalf of the Irgun from its departure point in Port-de-Bouc, France to the newly formed state of Israel in June 1948. Upon arriving in Israel the ship was shelled causing antagonism between Israeli military and paramilitary groups. Fein was arrested along with many members of the Irgun. He was released a week later due to asthma. While recovering, he stayed at the Geula Hotel in Tel Aviv, where he was tended by an Irgun nurse, Malca Yefet, whom he later married.

• MONROE FEIN (The Altalena, from Shmuel Katz’s memoirs)