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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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112089
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11208900.038
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1990-09-19
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NATION, Page 69American NotesHEROESAn Overdue Honor
The New Guinea jungle, 1942: waves of Japanese soldiers are
assaulting a U.S. position. For 21 hours straight, Army Sergeant
David Rubitsky blasts away at the attackers with a .30-cal. machine
gun, a .45-cal. pistol, a rifle and grenades. The smoke clears.
Single-handed, Rubitsky, 25, has killed or wounded 500 to 600 of
the enemy. After examining the scene, company commander J.M.
Stehling recommends Rubitsky for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Stehling's commander, Lieut. Colonel Herbert Smith, approves and
relays the word to his superior, Colonel John W. Mott. "You mean
a Jew for the Congressional Medal of Honor?" Mott replies.
According to Smith's later affidavit, Mott "just laughed and walked
away."
Rubitsky, now 72 and living in Milton, Wis., never complained.
But his friends did, and so did the Anti-Defamation League and a
group of Viet Nam veterans. In 1987 the Pentagon began looking into
the case. Several months ago, an Army buddy gave Rubitsky the
evidence he needed: a message that Rubitsky's friend had found on
the body of a Japanese officer who died later in New Guinea. The
note referred to "600 fine Japanese soldiers (who) died because
of a solitary American soldier." Today Rubitsky says he is not as
interested in the medal as in justice. He may yet get both.