CPL TIBOR RUBIN

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September 15, 2005


WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 14, 2005) -- The White House has announced that President George W. Bush will present the Medal of Honor to Cpl. Tibor Rubin in recognition of his actions in Korea from 1950 to 1953.

The Medal of Honor will be presented to Rubin during a White House ceremony, Sept. 23.

During numerous battles in Korea, Rubin’s actions with the 1st Cavalry Division to engage the enemy and tend to the wounded, were at what officials described as “careless disregard for his own safety.” In one such battle, Rubin single-handedly defended a hill, manning a machinegun for 24 hours, through the night and next morning, allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to successfully withdraw.

In October 1950, Chinese troops crossed the border into North Korea. During the ensuing battle, Rubin was severely wounded before being captured along with other Soldiers.

For the next two and a half years, Rubin risked his life daily to keep his fellow Soldiers alive and hopeful in two of the worst prisoner of war camps, officials said.

Witnesses have said that Rubin’s personal actions to obtain food and to provide medical care directly resulted in more than 40 Soldiers surviving “Death Valley” and Pyoktong Prisoner of War camps.

Rubin was first incarcerated at age 13 during World War II. He was forced from his native Hungarian Jewish community to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Both his parents and two sisters perished in the Holocaust. Rubin survived until the camp was liberated two years later by American troops.

“Army medics brought us survivors back to life,” Rubin said about his rescue from Mauthausen.

“I was liberated by the U.S. Army and felt that if I ever made it to the United States of America that I would join the Army.” Rubin said.

Rubin immigrated to the United States in 1948 and answered the call to duty by volunteering for Army service.

By July 1950, Rubin was fighting on the front lines in Korea as an infantryman in “I” Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

For more information on the Medal of Honor and Rubin, see www.army.mil/medalofhonor/rubin.