    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 38 (Monday, September 26, 2005)]
    [Pages 1450-1452]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    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.

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        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.
        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

    [[Page 1452]]

    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.
        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., Vice Chairman, Joint
    Chiefs of Staff; and Col. Rabbi Kenneth J. Leinwand, USA, installation
    chaplain, Fort Meade.