Yichusdik, Very well said. I have mentioned Dov Gruner here on YW a number of times, one of which I copied below. I also visited that prison when I was a young child, and it stayed with me forever.
“My dear DarcheiNaom, if you want to know what real mesirus nefesh is it is people like Dov Gruner and the Olei Gardom (those who went to the gallows) for the sake of Klal Yisroel and hakamas Medinas Yisroel. After he was captured, he wrote to his leader Menachem Begin not to worry, and that he has no regrets and would gladly have done it all over again. They took their tefilin to jail, and proudly sang Hatikvah as they were being led to their execution. Reb Aryeh Levin was their Rov, and shed bitter tears over them. On Rosh Hashana one year while he was the baal tefila, he broke down crying and repeating the names of each one of these kedoshim. These were people who gave it all so we can have our own state and a safe haven for Jews anywhere. On the ashes of the holocaust (some of whom were survivors) these people refused to be broken, and turned their efforts towards building up our nation, once again. “