The Leisure World Seal Beach community held a Veterans Day celebration early, with an event on Sunday. Several military veterans were in attendance and were recognized for their service. As a main event for the program, the gathering heard a presentation about Medal of Honor recipient Tibor “Teddy” Rubin, a Holocaust survivor, who would later become a US Army corporal, who served in the Korean War later in his life. His heroic service and post army dedication to supporting other veterans made Tibor a local legend.
“He would do anything for anyone, he had no hate,” his daughter Rosie Rubin said of her father.
Teddy was just a teenager when he was taken by Nazis and sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. He survived 14 months in the camp before it was liberated by the US Third Army. Tragically, Tibor’s stepmother and sister were killed in Auschwitz and his father perished in Buchenwald, according to an article in the Military Times. Tibor was so grateful to be saved that he vowed, if he ever made it to America, that he would become a soldier.
Tibor emigrated to America in 1948 and after overcoming some language barriers, he was accepted into the US Army. In 1950, he was sent to Korea, a member of Company I, 8th Regiment, First Cavalry Division. Unfortunately, he served under an anti-Semitic sergeant, who gave him dangerous assignments. One of the most notable, was to defend a hill, alone as his regiment moved out to set up a new camp. He was told they would return to get him, he said in a video interview about his Medal of Honor award.
For 24 hours, Tibor fought off a regiment of North Korean Soldiers charging up the hill. Throwing grenades and moving from foxhole to foxhole to attack with rifles and carbine guns, Tibor managed to hold off multiple waves of attackers from the top of the hill. He spoke of the harrowing night in the same video.
“I prayed to Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Budda, somebody get my ass out of here, this place is too rough,” Tibor said with a chuckle.
Later, as a prisoner of war in North Korea, Tibor helped his fellow captives by sneaking into storage areas to steal food and medicine for his fellow soldiers. According to some researchers, it’s been estimated that Tibor completed at least three missions that could have qualified him for the Medal of Honor.
However, Tibor did not get much recognition during his service time, mostly due to his sergeant holding back information of his efforts. But his service records would eventually come to light. In 2005, he was finally presented his Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush. Efforts of his fellow I Company soldiers helped bring him the recognition he deserved.
He also received two Purple Hearts for injuries in battle. In 2017, the VA Hospital in Long Beach was renamed as the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, about 16 months after his passing in December of 2015.
Tibor settled in Long Beach and Garden Grove, where he worked as a butcher and in a liquor store, and raised his family. In early 2015, Tibor and eight other living Korean War Medal of Honor recipients, were honored with a commemorative stamp by the US Postal Service. And the Bailey Street Library in Garden Grove also now bears his name.
Several of the speakers at the event also noted Teddy’s sense of humor. His nephew, Robert Huntly credited Tibor with possibly helping him avoid a life of trouble. As a rebellious youth, Huntly said it was on Tibor’s advice that he joined the Army. Tibor told him it might give him some discipline and direction and that it would help him get an education. Huntly ended up making a career of the Army, eventually retiring as a Lt. Colonel and program Director for the Jr. ROTC program for Los Angeles Unified School District, where he was able to spend more time with his uncle Teddy, who was still helping people.
“He was a mensch, he helped so many people,” Huntly said of Tibor.
