Medal of Honor Recipient Tibor Rubin Passes Away at 86

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., Dec. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announces that Corporal Tibor Rubin, Medal of Honor recipient, passed away Saturday evening, December 5, 2015, in Garden Grove, California at the age of 86.

Corporal Rubin was born in Pásztó, Hungary, on June 18, 1929. 

Tibor Rubin, U.S. Army –Rubin lost his parents and two sisters to the Holocaust. He was liberated from the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp by American soldiers and immigrated to the United States in 1948. He followed in his father's trade as a shoemaker and then briefly as a butcher. He was able to join the Army in 1950 on his second attempt at passing the English requirement. After basic training, Rubin was assigned to the 1^st Cavalry Division and sent to Korea. In July 1950, he was assigned to cover a retreat and single-handedly defended a hill for 24 hours inflicting incredible casualties on North Korean soldiers, who attacked his position in waves. Three months later he was in a similar position during a nighttime assault. Rubin again defended the hill viciously, but was wounded and captured – spending the next 30 months in a Chinese P.O.W. camp. During that time, he snuck out to steal food and did everything to help keep fellow prisoners alive –even refusing to be released to Hungary, which was then in Communist Russia. He was recommended four times for the Medal of Honor by two of his commanding officers in Korea, who were killed in action and couldn't follow up. During a review in the 1990s, it was determined he merited the award.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony on September 23, 2005.

Funeral services are pending. There are 77 recipients alive today.

About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society was chartered by Congress in 1958 and consists exclusively of the living recipients of our nation's highest award for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor. Those who wear this light blue ribbon and Medal around their neck are "recipients" of this prestigious award; they are not "winners." Although it is common to refer to the Medal as the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is simply named the Medal of Honor, although, as stated, the Congress did establish the Society as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Contact: Victoria Kueck
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SOURCE Congressional Medal of Honor Society