David Rubitsky

David Rubitsky (January 29, 1917 – June 28, 2013 ) was an American veteran of World War II who claimed he was denied the Medal of Honor because he was Jewish. In 1987, the United States Army began a 23-month investigation and concluded that there was "incontestable evidence" that he had not done what he had claimed. According to Rubitsky, on December 1–2, 1942 during the Battle of Buna, he singlehandedly defended a bunker with a ".30-cal. machine gun, a .45-cal. pistol, a rifle and grenades." Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois,

Retired Major General Herbert Smith provided a statement of his recollections, supporting Rubitsky. Rubitsky also obtained an old photograph taken from the body of a Japanese officer during the war; the inscription in Japanese on the back purports to have been written by a Colonel Yamamoto, who supposedly planned to commit suicide for his part in an attack in which "600 fine Japanese soldiers died because of a solitary American soldier." Most of Rubitsky's supporters accepted the decision. However, Joseph Stehling responded by stating, "The Army can say what it wants, but let me say this: The stench of those decaying bodies that day in the jungle stayed with me for years." As a result, he was made an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Death Rubitsky died on June 28, 2013, at the age of 96 in East Moline, Illinois.