[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.