U.S. Tibor Rubin, Medal of Honor, Korea

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For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Corporal Tibor Rubin distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period from July 23, 1950, to April 20, 1953, while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Republic of Korea. While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He inflicted a staggering number of casualties on the attacking force during his personal 24-hour battle, single-handedly slowing the enemy advance and allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to complete its withdrawal successfully. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8 th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. On October 30, 1950, Chinese forces attacked his unit at Unsan, North Korea, during a massive nighttime assault. That night and throughout the next day, he manned a .30 caliber machine gun at the south end of the unit's line after three previous gunners became casualties. He continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted. His determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward. As the battle raged, Corporal Rubin was severely wounded and captured by the Chinese. Choosing to remain in the prison camp despite offers from the Chinese to return him to his native Hungary, Corporal Rubin disregarded his own personal safety and immediately began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food for his comrades. Breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens, he risked certain torture or death if caught. Corporal Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but also desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp. His brave, selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners. Corporal Rubin's gallant actions in close contact with the enemy and unyielding courage and bravery while a prisoner of war are in the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.

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Corporal Tibor Rubin, Korean War Veteran

Mr. Tibor (Ted) Rubin will receive the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony on September 23, 2005.

Spouse: Yvonne, his wife of 42 years

Children: Frank, served four years in the US Air Force and is employed at the Veteran’s Administration in Long Beach, CA
Rosalyn, employed as a school teacher

Nation of Birth: Hungary, June 18, 1929

US Army service: February 13, 1950 - July 20, 1953

POW in North Korea for 30 months
Wounded twice and received two purple heart awards

Units of Service: 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division
100% service-connected Disabled American Veteran

Ted Rubin’s life before and after service in the Army:
The personal character of Corporal Rubin and his “call to duty” are exemplified in this very recent quote--

“I always wanted to become a citizen of the United States and when I became a citizen it was one of the happiest days in my life. I think about the United States and I am a lucky person to live here. When I came to America, it was the first time I was free. It was one of the reasons I joined the U.S. Army because I wanted to show my appreciation.”

Ted is a survivor of 14 months in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Liberated by the U.S. Army, he credits Army medics for saving the lives of survivors. He notes, “I thank God that I came to the United States.”

He follows a legacy of military service in his family--his father, Ferenz, was a Soldier in the Hungarian Army and a hero in World War I, and was a prisoner of war (POW) in Russia for over six years. During WWII, his father was moved to Auschwitz and later to Buchenwald where he died. Ted’s uncle was also a POW. His mother, Rosa and 10 year-old sister, Elonja died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz, Germany. His older brother, Mike Lesak fought with the English and Czech in World War II.

Ted worked as a butcher before he entered the Army, but his war injuries prevented him from continuing. He worked as a clerk and later as a manager at a liquor store owned by his brother, Emery I. Rubin. Emery is also a survivor of a concentration camp. Later, Emery brought on Ted as a partner at a liquor store.

He became an American citizen in 1953-1954 (exact date unknown).

Travels and hobbies:
He has traveled all over the world to include: Turkey (to visit his POW friends), Israel, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Austria, Mexico, Sweden, and Norway. Hobbies include reading and talking with people. He enjoys soccer, chess and ping-pong. He competed as an amateur boxer in his younger days in Germany.

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CPL. Tibor Rubin deployed to Korea on February 13, 1950 as a part of I Co., 3 rd Battalion, 8 th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.
Eighth Cavalry Regiment
3rd Infantry Division unit patch

The eight mullets in the 8th Cavalry patch show the regimental number and Cavalry tradition ascribing the origin of the pierced mullet to the rowel of a spur.

The 8th Cavalry Regiment was formed in 1866, at Camp Reynolds, California. Many of the troops had previously worked the gold and silver mines of the West and many had also fought in the Civil War, which ended just a year earlier. These rugged Soldiers were assigned to remote outposts throughout the frontier, from Texas and New Mexico to Idaho and California. Throughout much of the remainder of the 19th century, the Soldiers were engaged in fighting the Indians, protecting wagon trains, escorting mail deliveries and mapping the vast territories that the United States had acquired.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, the regiment sailed to Cuba, where they remained for four years after the fighting had ended. In 1902, the regiment returned to the United States, moving its headquarters to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri and then to Fort Riley, Kansas. In 1905, the Regiment was again ordered overseas, this time to the Philippines, where troops fought insurgents. In 1907, the regiment returned stateside, where it was divided again into outposts in Nebraska, Wyoming and Arizona.

The regiment returned to the Philippines in 1910 to fight the stubborn insurgency. The Soldiers came back to the States in 1915, this time to Fort Bliss, Texas, from where they launched attacks against Mexican bandits crossing into the United States. In 1921, 8th Cavalry became one of the original units of the newly formed 1st Cavalry Division. During World War II, the regiment saw action in the Pacific Theater and was the first unit to enter Manila during the liberation of the Philippines.

The postwar years found the 8th Cavalry on occupation duty in Tokyo. When war broke out on the Korean peninsula, the regiment conducted the first amphibious landing of the Korean War and during the subsequent counteroffensive, was the first unit to enter the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. After the Korean War, the 8th Cavalry remained in the Far East on duty in Japan and guarding the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

During the Vietnam War, the regiment was reassigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, where it was reorganized as an airborne and airmobile unit. From there, troopers deployed to Vietnam. The regiment also participated in a number of post-Cold War operations including Desert Storm, Joint Forge (Bosnia) and Iraqi Freedom.
The 1st Cavalry Division
3rd Infantry Division unit patch

The 1st Cavalry Division shoulder sleeve insignia. The traditional Cavalry color of yellow and the horse's head is symbolic of the original organizational structure of the Cavalry. The color black is symbolic of iron, alluding to the organizational transition from mounted horses to tanks and heavy armor.

The 1st Cavalry Division was formed in 1921 at Fort Bliss, Texas. The division was originally composed of the 1st, 7th, 8th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, 82nd Field Artillery Battalion (Horse), 13th Signal Troop, the Ordnance Company, Division Headquarters and 1st Cavalry Quartermaster. The division's first commander was Major Robert L. Howze.

The primary mission of the division in the 1920s was patrolling on horseback the rugged terrain along the Texas-Mexican border, which was infested with bandits and smugglers. During the Depression years of the 1930s, the troopers assisted with government construction projects such as the Civilian Conservation Corps. During these transition years leading up to World War II, the troopers swapped their horses for tanks and mobile howitzers and a number of new units were added to the division.

Beginning in 1944, division troops fought the Japanese in the southwestern Pacific, most notably in the Philippines. The troopers were given the honor of leading the Allied Occupational Army into Tokyo in 1945.

The division participated in the first amphibious landing of the Korean War in 1950 and for nearly two years fought major battles throughout the peninsula. In 1952, the division was transferred to Japan and later to South Korea, where Soldiers guarded the demilitarized zone until 1965.

In the early stages of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry became the first fully committed division in the war. During the war, the troopers used helicopters extensively, giving them much more speed and mobility than riding to battle on horseback, as they had only 35 years earlier.

General Creighton Abrams, while commander of all U.S. forces in Southeast Asia, paid 1st Cavalry the highest compliment when he said: "The big yellow patch does something to an individual that makes him a better Soldier, a better team member, and a better American than he otherwise would have been." The yellow patch with the black diagonal line and horse inside a shield is the division's insignia.

The division returned stateside from Vietnam in 1971 and underwent several reorganizations and received new tanks and helicopters. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the division performed magnificently and was instrumental in crushing Iraqi resistance. Speaking of the 1st Cavalry Division, Commander of the Allied Forces General Norman Schwarzkopf directed: "Send in the First Team. Destroy the Republican Guard. Let's go home."

Upon its return to the United States in 1991, the 1st Cavalry Division, with its headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, became the largest division in the Army, with a number of new units and further reorganization. As in the early years, the division prides itself in being combat-ready and expeditionary. The division subsequently deployed to a number of world trouble spots, including Bosnia-Herzegovina and more recently to Iraq.