Meet Tibor Rubin, Hero
Recognized belatedly because of an anti-Semitic sergeant, a week from today, Tibor Rubin will receive the
Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits in Korea.
In October 1950, the Chinese army spilled into North Korea and attacked US troops. In an ensuing battle, many in his unit were slain, and a badly wounded Rubin was captured.
He spent 2-1/2 years in a brutal POW camp in which Americans faced starvation and illness. But Rubin, steeled by experience in the Nazi camp, managed to swipe food from Chinese and North Korean depots and distributed it equally among his comrades, according to fellow soldiers.
"Every day, when it got dark, and we went to sleep, Rubin was on his way, crawling on his stomach, jumping over fences, breaking in supply houses, while the guns were looking down on him. He tied the bottom of his fatigue pants and filled up anything he could get ahold of," a fellow soldier, Sergeant Carl McClendon, said in an affidavit.
The army said Rubin's actions to get food and medical care saved the lives of 40 fellow soldiers.
