WRNMMC Remembers the Holocaust

UNITED STATES

04.29.2022

Story by Bernard Little  

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

“When I came to America, it was the first time I was free. It was one of the reason I joined the U.S. Army because I wanted to show my appreciation.”
Tibor “Teddy” Rubin
Holocaust survivor
Korean War Hero
Medal of Honor recipient

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center observed Holocaust Remembrance Day and Days of Remembrance with a solemn program April 28 in WRNMMC’s Clark Auditorium.
The theme for the program, “Determination, Hope and Honor,” focused on the life of Tibor “Teddy” Rubin, born in 1929 in Paszto, Hungary, a region which then had primarily a Jewish population. At 13, Rubin’s parent decided to send him to Switzerland via Italy for safety during the rise of the Nazi regime, but he was captured and sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. On May 5, 1945, the U.S. Army liberated the camp, but Tibor’s parents and one of his sister died during the Holocaust.
Rubin credited Army medics with saving his life, but following his liberation from Mauthausen, where between 120,000 to 200,000 people are believed to have perished, he spent three years in a displaced persons camp in Germany.
“He was initially turned down in his request to come to America, but in 1948, he was admitted as a refugee. His first job was in a slaughterhouse in New York City. But he had another career in mind…to become a ‘G.I. Joe,’” said Army Sgt. Giovanni Lewis of WRNMMC-Troop Command Equal Opportunity Liaison Team, which sponsored the observance at WRNMMC.
“Ever since the Army saved me from the Nazis, I promised myself to pay them back,” Rubin was quoted as saying. To do this, he felt he needed to become a U.S. soldier.
“Rubin twice failed the U.S. Army entrance examination because of the language barrier,” Lewis said. “In 1949, he tried again. With ‘help’ from fellow test takers, he passed the exam and enlisted in the Army. By July 1950, Rubin was fighting in South Korea.”
Lewis explained Rubin faced ongoing discrimination because he was Jewish. A particular master sergeant repeatedly gave Rubin the most dangerous assignments, but Rubin persevered.
During one mission, Rubin is credited with securing a rout of retreat for his company by single-handedly defending a hill for 24 hours against a wave of North Korean soldiers. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor by two of his commanding officers, but both were killed in action shortly afterwards, but not before ordering Rubin's master sergeant to begin the necessary paperwork recommending Rubin for the Medal of Honor.
“I really believe, in my heart, that [the master sergeant] would have jeopardized his own safety rather than assist in any way whatsoever in the awarding of the Medal of Honor to a person of Jewish descent,” stated Corporal Harold Speakman in his notarized affidavit concerning the affair.
Later in combat action following a massive Chinese troop concentrations had crossed the border into North Korea on Nov. 2, 1950, a wounded Rubin was captured. Most of his regiment had been killed or captured.
“He refused his captors’ offers for repatriation to Hungary, which was by then, behind the Iron Curtain. Instead, he chose to remain in the prison camp with his fellow Soldiers,” Lewis said. “He used the skills he learned at Mauthausen to save a man from gangrene by using maggots to clean the wound, and he showed men how to combat lice and rallied their spirits. He began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food, and the fear of torture or death did not prevent him from breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens,” Lewis added.
“In 1953, after 30 months of imprisonment, Rubin and his fellow prisoners were freed,” Lewis continued. “At 24 years old, Rubin had spent nearly four years of his life surviving in inhuman camp conditions in Germany and Korea. He is credited with keeping more than 40 American POWs alive.”
Forty years later, the Army investigated cases in which discrimination may have negatively impacted various military decorations. “In 2001, Congress directed further investigations. On Sept. 23, 2005, President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor to Rubin in a ceremony at the White House.”
During the ceremony, Bush said of Rubin, “He 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. The United States acknowledges a debt that time has not diminished.”
Rubin said, “I wasn’t born here. I wasn’t a citizen. I just was a little Jew coming back from the most terrible place, and to get the Medal of Honor, that’s a big thing.”
“During his life, Rubin volunteered over 20,000 hours at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Long Beach, California. In 2015 at the age of 86, he passed,” Lewis added. “Congressman Alan Lowenthal introduced legislation to rename the Long Beach V.A. Medical Center after Rubin. President Barack Obama signed it into law in December 2016.
Lowenthal said during the ceremony, “[Rubin] was a hero in every aspect. He was brave. He was selfless. He was intimately concerned about the wellbeing of those around.”
“Days of Remembrance is the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust,” Lewis said. “It’s a week-long event, held this year from April 24 to May 1. This year’s Remembrance Day was April 28.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class Crystal Pulido read President Joe Biden’s 2022 Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust proclamation, which in part stated, “Remembrance is our eternal duty, but remembrance without action risks becoming an empty ritual. As individuals, we must never be indifferent to human cruelty and human suffering. Today and every day, we stand against antisemitism and all other forms of hate and continue our work to ensure that everyone can live in a world that safeguards the fundamental human dignity of all people.”

• Date Taken: 04.29.2022
• Date Posted: 05.04.2022 14:26
• Story ID: 419945
• Location: US