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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Medal of Honor awarded -- to Korea vet |
| 2005-09-24 |
| A concentration camp survivor who joined the U.S. Army out of gratitude, fought in Korea and spent 2 1/2 years in a Chinese prisoner of war camp was awarded a Medal of Honor on Friday, 55 years after his heroism. President Bush gave the nation's highest military honor to Hungarian-born Tibor Rubin, 76, in the White House East Room. The medal recognizes him for overcoming dangers as an infantryman, trying to save fellow soldiers in battle and as a prisoner of war, even as he faced prejudice because he was Jewish and a foreigner. "By repeatedly risking his own life to save others, Cpl. Rubin exemplified the highest ideals of military service and fulfilled a pledge to give something back to the country that had given him his freedom," Bush said. The Hungarian-born Rubin, of Garden Grove, Calif., stood at Bush's side with his head slightly bowed and his hands clasped behind his back as the president extolled him, then fastened the gold medal around his neck. "It's a wonderful, beautiful country. We are all very lucky," Rubin told reporters later. No. We're lucky to have people like you move here. When Rubin was just 13, he and his family were rounded up by the Nazis and taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. His parents and sister died at the hands of the Nazis but Rubin survived for 14 months. He was liberated by American GIs and vowed to join the U.S. Army if he ever made it to America. After he came to this country and enlisted, he was quickly sent to Korea. There, Rubin's actions during battle and as a prisoner of war went beyond bravery to heroism, as Bush described them. Assigned to defend a hill, Rubin single-handedly held off the enemy for 24 hours, inflicting casualties and allowing his own unit to withdraw safely. Later he was captured by the Chinese. During captivity, he risked his life to steal food for fellow prisoners, give them medical help and keep their morale up. He refused an offer from his captors to return to communist Hungary. "Those who served with Ted speak of him as a soldier who gladly risked his own life for others," Bush said. Damn. I'll never do anything that noble. |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #1 Let's be grateful we never have to, Jackel. Thank you for posting this. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-24 21:47 |