“People should learn to help each other, we are all humans, it doesn’t matter. Help each other. Love your friends and family. Do mitzvahs.”   - Ted “Tibor” Rubin

On September 16, local veterans, liberators, museum donors and Holocaust survivors gathered at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center to participate in “Profile of Courage,” a conversation between Holocaust survivor and Medal of Honor recipient Ted “Tibor” Rubin and Chicago Tribune reporter Howard Reich.

Since the establishment of the Medal of Honor in 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln, only 3,410 people have received the medal.  Eighteen Jewish soldiers have received the Medal of Honor, Ted “Tibor” Rubin is the only Holocaust survivor to have ever been awarded the honor. 

Born in Hungary in 1929, and at age 13 , Tibor Rubin was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Rubin survived 14 brutal months of captivity, most of his family perished.  With nothing left for him in Hungary Ted emigrated to the United States. He promised himself that he would show his appreciation to the country that gave him his freedom, and saved his life. Ted joined the Army in February 1950, and five months later landed in Korea with the 3rd battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, one of the first American units sent to help repel North Korean invasion forces.  While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He 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. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. Eventually wounded and captured by the Chinese, Rubin's selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners. Corporal Rubin's gallant actions in close contact with the enemy and unyielding courage and bravery while a prisoner of war are in the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.

2005 Presidential Medal of Honor Ceremony >

“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.”   - George W. Bush, 2005

This event was presented in cooperation with Commit to Courage, the 2009 Congressional Medal of Honor Convention held in Chicago, September 15-19^th