23 Facts About Tibor Rubin

Tibor "Ted" Rubin was a Hungarian-American Army Corporal.

Tibor Rubin was born on June 18,1929, in Paszto, a Hungarian town with a Jewish population of 120 families, one of six children of shoemaker Ferenc Tibor Rubin.

When Tibor was 13, Ferenc and Rosa Rubin tried to send him to safety in neutral Switzerland, but he was caught and sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.

Tibor Rubin was liberated by American combat troops when they arrived at Mauthausen on May 5,1945.

Tibor Rubin entered the United States in 1948, settled in New York and worked first as a shoemaker.

Tibor Rubin then apprenticed as a butcher at Michael Bela Wilhelm's Hungarian butcher shop on Third Avenue in the Yorkville neighborhood for about a year.

Tibor Rubin failed the English language test, but tried again in 1950 and passed with some judicious help from two fellow test-takers.

Some of Tibor Rubin's comrades were present and witnessed the order being issued, and all are convinced that Peyton deliberately ignored his orders.

Tibor Rubin, severely wounded, was captured and spent the next 30 months in a prisoner of war camp.

Almost every evening, Tibor Rubin would sneak out of the prison camp to steal food from the Chinese and North Korean supply depots, knowing that he would be shot if caught.

The survivors of the prison war camp credited Tibor Rubin with keeping them alive and saving at least 40 American soldiers.

Tibor Rubin refused his captors' repeated offers of repatriation to Hungary, by then behind the Iron Curtain.

The ensuing investigation showed that Tibor Rubin had been the subject of discrimination due to his religion and should have received the Medal of Honor.

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.

Tibor Rubin 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.

Tibor Rubin continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted.

Tibor Rubin's determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward.

Corporal Tibor Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp.

Tibor Rubin regularly volunteered at the Long Beach Veterans Hospital; having earned an award for more than 20,000 hours of volunteer work.

Tibor Rubin died December 5,2015, at his home in Garden Grove.

Tibor Rubin was survived by his wife Yvonne and their two children, Frank and Rosie.

Tibor Rubin is one of the Korean War heroes honored in the 2013 documentary Finnigan's War, directed by Conor Timmis.

Tibor Rubin recalls his Holocaust experience and Korean War POW experience.