Avraham Amitai was born in New York on 8 May 1924, the son of Aharon and Zipporah. He was six years old when he made aliya with his parents in 1930. He studied in Tel Aviv and Kfar Gan Hayyim, near Kfar Sabba. Instead of joining the American Army he became a Guard ('Noter') in Palestine and three years later, in 1946, he joined Kibbutz Eilot in the northern Negev.
As a member of the kibbutz he was drafted into the 'Negev' Batallion and participated in the attack on Ashdod. On 3 June 1948, as he was rescuing a wounded comrade from the battlefield, he was badly injured. On 7 November 1949 he was re-buried in the Nachlat Yitchak Cemetery.
