So...About that Medal of Honor

Damn. Passed away just two years ago too.

More reason to always respect your elders kids.

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Those Iowa born guys are tough SOB's.

That's just ****ing amazing. I was stuck at O'Hare over Christmas for a day and I read about his Medal of Honor flight. The single guy single handedly shot down 5 bombers and repelled another saving his aircraft carrier in something like 4 minutes! That ****s just insane!

Some guys just answer the ****ing bell....

Tibor Rubin

Survived a concentration camp in Hungry as a child. Immigrated to the US after WWII.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibor_Rubin

By July 1950, Private First Class Rubin found himself fighting in South Korea with I Company, Eighth Cavalry Regiment, First Cavalry Division. According to lengthy affidavits submitted by nearly a dozen men who served with Rubin in South and North Korea, mostly self-described "country boys" from the South and Midwest, an antisemitic army sergeant consistently "volunteered" Rubin for the most dangerous patrols and missions.

During one mission, according to the testimonies of his comrades, Rubin secured a needed route of retreat for his rifle company by single-handedly defending a hill for 24 hours against waves of North Korean soldiers. For this and other acts of bravery, Rubin was recommended four times for the Medal of Honor by two of his commanding officers. Both of these officers were killed in action shortly afterwards, but not before ordering Rubin's sergeant to begin the necessary paperwork recommending Rubin for the Medal of Honor. Some of Rubin’s fellow GIs were present and witnessed when the order was issued to the sergeant, and all are convinced that the sergeant deliberately ignored the orders. "I really believe, in my heart, that 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", wrote Corporal Harold Speakman in a notarized affidavit.

Captured after being severely wounded.


Faced with constant hunger, filth, and disease, most of the GIs simply gave up. "No one wanted to help anyone. Everybody was for himself", wrote Leo A. Cormier Jr., a former sergeant and POW. The exception was Rubin. Almost every evening, 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. "He shared the food evenly among the GIs," Cormier wrote. He also took care of us, nursed us, carried us to the latrine..., he did many good deeds, which he told us were mitzvahs in the Jewish tradition... he was a very religious Jew and helping his fellow men was the most important thing to him". The survivors of the prison war camp credited Rubin with keeping them alive and saving at least 40 American soldiers.

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


http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/rubin/citation/printable.html


At 4 a.m., while defending a hill on his own, Rubin heard gunfire from what sounded like hundreds of enemy troops. "I figured I was a goner. But I ran from one foxhole to the next, throwing hand grenades so the North Koreans would think they were fighting more than one person," he said. "I couldn't think straight -- in a situation like that, you become hysterical trying to save your life." "He tied up the enemy forces, allowing the safe withdrawal of Allied troops and equipment on the Taegu-Pusan road. The enemy suffered, not only tremendous casualties ... but it slowed the North Korean invading momentum along that route, saving countless American lives and giving the 8th Cav. precious time to regroup to the south," wrote CPL Leonard Hamm in his nomination of Rubin for the MOH.

There is more. Truly an amazing American.

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Audie Murphy, a guy every current or former 3rd Infantry Division Soldier should know:

http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2907/murphy-audie-l.php

Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted.

I always enjoyed his stories because it's like they came from a Rambo movie, only if Rambo was really short.

That dude was a man among men. I memory serves he lie about his age to get in, and was just a total badass.

"daphins wrote:

That dude was a man among men. I memory serves he lie about his age to get in, and was just a total badass.

Yeah he lied and went in at 16. He was a runt, really short , they shipped him off to war as a private and he was promoted up to LT by the time it was over. It really doesn't get much more badass than single handedly holding a position for an hour against advancing Nazi tanks and infantry.

The Sal Giunta story, from the movie/documentary Restrepo. I recommend it to anyone. Another boy from Iowa.

http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3471/giunta-salvatore-a.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50RFJfUzNsY

Raul Benevidez, so badass he spit in the doctor's face when the doc was trying to zip up his body bag- yes, you heard that right.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_P._Benavidez

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=50095485956

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2e1nCmXB0aY

And, oh yeah, he did all that AFTER coming back from a broken back where doctors told him he would most likely never...walk...again.

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SSG Giunta. Barrel-chested paratrooper.