The Holocaust survivor who became a Medal of Honor recipient
By Jon Guttman
Friday, May 3
When Tibor Rubin received the Medal of Honor in 2005, he largely had his sergeant to thank. Said sergeant constantly sent him on missions intended to get him killed. By then, however, Rubin had a history of defying the Reaper.
Born in Pásztó, Hungary, on June 18, 1929, Tibor Rubin was 13 when the Nazis sent him to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. He survived 14 months before the U.S. Third Army liberated the camp. His family was less fortunate — his stepmother and sister died in Auschwitz and his father perished in Buchenwald.
In 1948 Rubin emigrated to the United States, working first as a shoemaker and then a butcher in New York City. He also strove to fulfill a promise that “if the Lord helped me go to America, I’d join the Army.”
He failed the language test in 1949 but enlisted after a second try. In July 1950 Private First Class “Ted” Rubin was shipped to Korea as a member of Company I, 8th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.
https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2024/05/03/the-holocaust-survivor-who-became-a-medal-of-honor-recipient/
