Thursday, September 22, 2005

This is a great story about a great man - the most recent winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

His father died in Buchenwald. His ten-year-old sister Elonja was sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz, and his mother Rosa, who was slated for forced labor, chose instead to face death with her daughter. Mauthausen was liberated by the U.S. 11th Armored Division on May 5, 1945. 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. Ted was soon involved in the fighting withdrawal to the Pusan perimeter. In one engagement near Chirye, Ted's company was redeploying from one hill to another, and he volunteered to stay behind to keep the enemy guessing until the movement was completed. As Corporal Leonard Hamm relates, "the North Koreans, thinking the hill was still occupied by a whole company, made an all out offensive with all their available troops. PFC Tibor Rubin had stocked each foxhole with grenades, and during the attack the following morning made his way running from foxhole to foxhole, lobbing, one after the other, grenades down upon the enemy, he became almost hysterical in his actions but he held the hill."


I found it through Jason's COUNTERCOLUMN. Predictably, he ends with a sarcastic remark about the fact that the New York Times didn't cover the story. I wish they had. I don't know why they didn't. How about a comparison with some other news outlets? I thought I saw Fox news repeat an AP story, but I can't seem to find it now. Not even a word about Natioanl Review Online, which both Jason and I link to. Of course there are bad things as well as good to be said about that magazine. How about the Washington Times? Is quoting an AP story on a subject really the difference between good reporting and bad? Someone should check out the Wall Street Journal as well - I think it's subscription only.

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