He was a Mauthausen concentracion camp survivor, who enlisted in the Army after the war, and then fought in Korea, where he fought like hell, was seriously wounded and captured. After he recovered in the POW camp, he began sneaking out to get food for his fellow POWs, risking his life each time.
The only reason he got the MoH in 2005 was because of anti-Semitism on the part of his company’s First Sergeant. Rubin was recommended for the MoH on 3 separate occasions, but the sergeant didn’t fill out the paperwork, so he didn’t get it.
There was a series about Medal of Honor winners. Cliff Robertson was the narrator. I think it may have been on PBS but I am not sure. IIRC they talked profiled mostly living awardees and included interviews with them.
One of, well, one man whose Medal of Honor ranked among the least of his accomplishments. Little Round Top wasn’t even the most heroic of his wartime endeavors, and even when the war was over he had yet to receive (I wish people could conceive of the extravagant improbability of this, at the time) the French Medal of Honor.
His tombstone, in Brunswick, is quite impressive. It’s a small squarish stone embellished with the name “Chamberlain,” and nothing else. For knowledgeable and intelligent people of conscience, nothing else is or ever will be needed, ever.
Oh for Christ’s sake… that’s one of the frigging storylines in the movie version of Starship Troopers! :smack: Except that the guy wants to get busted down so he can get back in the fight instead of training recruits.
I am actually thinking positively about that movie for once…
It’s been a while since I re-read Starship Troopers, and my copy is still packed away, but I seem to recall that in the book Rico’s former drill instructor, Sgt Zim(?), requested a demotion in order to be eligible for a combat position.
I met a MOH winner up on the Arctic ice pack in '90. His name was Drew Dix–he made Rambo look like a wussy. He could be quite a gruff, but he was always nice to me. I never asked him about the specified action, because 1) I was told he really didn’t like to talk about it as “his” action, that it was a team effort, and 2) when he had notified of the award, he wasn’t sure which engagement they were referring to–apparently there were several others that were just as harrowing. :eek:
Have you ever been inside the theater on the campus at Bowdoin College? There is the usual collection of old brass plaques that list the graduates who have fought in various wars. As a history buff I always read stuff like this. One of them lists all the graduates who fought for the Confederacy. Finding something like that here in New England was quite a surprise. I believe this was his idea.
Yes but they are not grinding for Capt Chontosh. His actions happened during the intial invasion of Iraq against regular Iraqi army troops. In 2003. He was awarded the Navy Cross. There is no move in the pentagon to get his medal upgraded. It is possible but not likely.
Yes I have. I believe the plaques were an early project of the Bowdoin ROTC, for which Chamberlain also deserves credit. As for the specific plaque you mention, remember that he was chosen to accept the surrender of the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, and chose, without orders and against precedent, to have the Army of the Potomac salute them. So a decent regard for brave soldiers who ended up on the wrong side was certainly not beyond perhaps the greatest humanitarian ever to join the U.S. Army.
I have always been curious about, but have never done the heavy research (I’ve done enough to find the answers don’t come easy) to find out what he thought of the political/military situation in Europe in his last years. If anyone has, I’d be grateful for an assist.
I just read something tonight about The Congressional Medal of Honor Museum onboard the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC. The price of admission gets you in to the CMOH Museum, plus all of the ships, aircraft and exhibits at Patriots Point Naval & maritime Museum. You can see it here (NOTE- this page is silent, but the Patriots Point homepage has cool 40’s music playing).
And they listed it as “Congressional”- somebody should tell 'em to change that…
True enough. Chamberlain merely instituted military education and drill at Bowdoin College decades in advance of ROTC, for which I contend he deserves credit because he, basically, invented it.
But there’s enough reason to admire the man without these quibbles, and I would not quarrel with fans of the great Leonard Wood.
I finally had a chance to check with my husband about the MoH winner he knew. His name was John Levitow. His story is pretty amazing.
Papa Tiger apparently also sees a number of MoH winners who come in to visit the wounded troops at the military hospital where he works. They’re still out there quietly showing what amazing people they are.
If you scroll down that page, you can see photos of the plane with the thousands of shrapnel holes.
But what really got to me is my son just got out of the Air Force – and at the time he got out, he was exactly the same age and the same rank as John Levitow.
As my husband said, “You never know what you’re going to do until you’re in the situation.”
