Salo was born in 1914 in Poland to Avram and Hanna nee Auster and had a brother Israel and a sister Leah. Salo and Israel immigrated to Haifa, Israel and their parents and sister were killed in the Holocaust.

The Har Zion left Liverpool at 06.15 hours on 31 August 1940, with 1000 cases of spirit and 120 tons of fertiliser to travel to the USA. The ship was attacked by U-boat, U-38 which fired two torpedoes amidships and ship sank north west of Ireland. The master and thirty five crew were killed.