[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
[September 23, 2005]
[Pages 1478-1480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on Presenting the Congressional Medal of Honor to Tibor
Rubin
September 23, 2005
Laura and I welcome you to the White House.
This is a special occasion for our Nation. We're here to pay tribute to
a soldier with an extraordinary devotion to his brothers in arms and an
unshakeable love for his adopted homeland of America.
Corporal Tibor ``Ted'' Rubin--many acts of courage during the Korean
war saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow soldiers. In the heat of
battle, he inspired his comrades with his fearlessness. And amid the
inhumanity of a Chinese prisoner-of-war camp, he gave them hope. Some of
those soldiers are here today, and they have never forgotten what they
owe this man. And by awarding the Medal of Honor to Corporal Rubin
today, the United States acknowledges a debt that time has not
diminished.
It's our honor to welcome Ted's wife, Yvonne; daughter, Rosie, a second
grade teacher, I might add--[laughter]--Frank
and Lai, welcome. Glad you all are here.
Vice President, thank you for coming. Mr.
Secretary, we're proud you're here. I
appreciate Senator John Warner, the chairman
of the Armed Services Committee. Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida, welcome. Thank you for being here. Former
Congressman Ben Gilman and
Georgia are with us.
Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey;
Pete Geren, acting Secretary of the Air Force;
``Admiral G,'' Vice Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs is with us; General Pete Schoomaker, Chief of Staff of the United States Army. And
Rabbi, thank you very much for your
blessings.
I want to thank Ambassador Andras Simonyi, the Ambassador of Hungary to the United States, for
joining us. Proud you're here. Yes. [Laughter]
So honored to have the four Medal of Honor recipients with us:
Barney Barnum, with the
United States Marines; Al Rascon, the Army;
Bob Foley, the Army; and Jack Jacobs of the Army. Proud you're here. Thanks for being
here.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for bravery that a President
can bestow. It is given for acts of valor that no superior could rightly
order a soldier to perform. And that is what we mean by ``above and
beyond the call of duty.'' By repeatedly risking his own life to save
others, Corporal 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.
Born in Hungary in 1929, Ted and his family were rounded up by the
Nazis and taken to concentration camps when he was just 13 years old. He
was taken to Mauthausen Camp in Austria, where an SS officer told the
prisoner, ``You, Jews, none of you will ever make it out of here
alive.'' And many did not. Before the war was over, both of Ted's
parents and one of his sisters were lost in the Holocaust. Ted Rubin
survived the camp for 14 months, long enough to be liberated by U.S.
Army troops on May the 5th, 1945.
[[Page 1479]]
These American GIs gave Ted his first real taste of freedom. Their
compassion for the people in the camp made a deep impression on this
teenage survivor. It was his first experience with soldiers who were
fighting to protect human life. That day Ted made a promise to himself:
If he ever made it to America, he would show his appreciation to this
great land by enlisting in the United States Army. He did move to
America after the war, and the young immigrant made good on his pledge.
Even though he was not yet a citizen, he volunteered to serve his new
nation in uniform, and 7 months after taking the oath of a U.S. soldier,
he was sent to Korea.
The conditions were brutal. The fighting was intense, and the bitter
cold was unrelenting. And it was in these grueling circumstances that
Corporal Rubin impressed his fellow soldiers in the 1st Cav Division as
one of the best ever to wear our Nation's uniform.
Those who served with Ted speak of him as a soldier of great skill
and courage. One night near the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin had been
assigned to hold a hill that was essential to the 3d Battalion safe
withdrawal. For 24 hours this lone rifleman would defend the hill
against an overwhelming number of North Korean forces. By his actions,
Corporal Rubin inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, saved the lives
of countless soldiers, and gave the unit time to withdraw.
Those who served with Ted speak of him as a soldier who gladly
risked his own life for others. When Corporal Rubin's battalion found
itself ambushed by thousands of Chinese troops, the Americans' firepower
soon dwindled to a single machine gun. The weapon was in an exposed
position, and three soldiers had already died manning it. That was when
Corporal Rubin stepped forward. He fought until his ammunition was gone.
He was badly wounded, captured, and sent to a POW camp. He risked his
life that day to protect his fellow American soldiers, and his heroism
helped many of them escape.
Those who served with Ted speak of him as a soldier whose many acts
of compassion helped his fellow GIs survive the nightmare of
imprisonment. As a teenager, Ted had taught himself how to survive the
horrors of a Nazi death camp. He was resourceful, courageous, and
unusually strong. And in Korea, he drew on these qualities to help keep
many of his POWs alive. Whenever he could, at the risk of certain
execution, Corporal Rubin would sneak out and steal food rations from
the guards, and then he shared them with his fellow soldiers. Throughout
this ordeal, he nursed those who were sick back to health and said the
Kaddish prayers for those he buried.
And when his captors offered to release him to Communist Hungary,
with the guarantee of a good job and nice clothes and plenty of food,
Corporal Rubin refused. He said, ``I was in the U.S. Army, and I
wouldn't leave my American brothers because they need me here.'' Ted's
decision was in character.
As a Jew and non-citizen serving in uniform, he had experienced
prejudice in the Army. And he knew that the America he fought for did
not always live up to its highest ideals. Yet he had enough trust in
America's promise to see his commitment through. He saw it as his
personal duty to live up to our Nation's promise, and by doing so, he
set an example of what it means to be an American.
Many heroes are remembered in monuments of stone. The monuments to
Corporal Rubin are a legacy of life. We see his legacy in the many
American families whose husbands, fathers, and sons returned home safely
because of his efforts. We see his legacy in the free and democratic
South Korea that grew on the soil of his sacrifice. And we see his
legacy in a new generation of American men and women in uniform who were
inspired to their own acts of courage and compassion.
[[Page 1480]]
Today we remember the mother, father, and sister that Corporal Rubin
lost to an unspeakable evil. We admire the determination of a young man
who sought to repay his American liberators by following in their
footsteps, and we recall the selfless acts that gave his comrades
strength and hope in their darkest hours.
In the years since Abraham Lincoln signed into law the bill
establishing the Medal of Honor, we have had many eloquent tributes to
what this medal represents. I like Ted's description. He calls it ``the
highest honor of the best country in the world.'' And today a grateful
America bestows this award on a true son of liberty.
I now ask the military aide to read the citation.
Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Defense Donald H.
Rumsfeld; former Representative Benjamin A. Gilman of New York and his
wife, Georgia; Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., USN, Vice Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Col. Rabbi Kenneth J. Leinwand, USA,
installation chaplain, Fort Meade.