The RIP Famous Person Thread

[snakeeyes]

Jonah Lomu: The day black taxi driver Michael gave All Blacks legend the tour of Belfast


Michael Johnston with Jonah Lomu on the Whiterock Road, with Black Mountain in the background

It was a black taxi tour that Belfast man Michael Johnston will never forget - the day he introduced the world's greatest rugby player, Jonah Lomu, to his home city.

The retired New Zealand winger's passing at the age of just 40 was announced in the early hours of yesterday, leaving fans across the globe shocked.
Lomu, who scored 37 tries in 63 Test matches, had suffered from health problems since retiring from the game in 2002 due to a rare kidney disease. He died after suddenly collapsing just hours after returning to Auckland from a trip to Dubai.

The player will be remembered by Black Taxi Tours driver Michael, who took some of the legendary All Blacks rugby team on an adventure around some of the city's Troubles hotspots.

The team were fresh from the pitch on Lansdowne Road where - thanks to Lomu's prowess - they had just clobbered the Ireland side 40-29.

Relaxing after their win, the side travelled north to explore the other side of the island before their long journey home.

In 2001, just three years after the Good Friday Agreement, the peace was still settling in Belfast, and such visitors were a rarity.

Lomu was already the first true superstar of rugby union when Michael enjoyed showing him around the sights, including the famous peace walls and murals.

And he couldn't resist posing for a photograph with the sports star under the slopes of Black Mountain.

The Auckland-born former Cardiff Blue is best remembered for his impact on the 1995 Rugby World Cup, when having gone into the tournament with only two caps to his name, he scored seven tries, including four in a devastating semi-final display against England.
Until then, wingers had been quick and nimble. Now they were big and brutal, but fast nonetheless.

Despite their teams having been on the receiving end of Lomu's skill and strength, Irish and English players paid heartfelt tributes to Lomu.

They included Gary Halpin, who famously gesticulated at New Zealand, having scored the opening try for Ireland in that 1995 clash.

"He did for rugby what Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis did for rock and roll ... rugby had never seen anybody that big, or that quick," said Halpin.

"Our first impressions of him were of his size and physique - I suppose our lasting impression was that we very quickly realised that something had arrived on the world stage - that he was going to change world rugby, that rugby would never be the same again.
"Rugby had never seen anything like him unleashed.

Ulster and Ireland rugby ace Tommy Bowe added: "Very shocked to hear the sad news about Jonah Lomu. Our sport has lost its first real superstar. RIP Jonah."

Brian O'Driscoll, who played against Lomu early in his own career, said: "I remember in that game [against New Zealand in 2001] being left one-on-one with him. There was inevitability about what was going to happen.

"Once they got the ball into Jonah's hands, against someone that was 5ft 10in, simple physics would tell you there was only going to be one winner.

"He ran over the top of me and scored a try, and that was part of their comeback."

Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked England to victory in the 2003 World Cup, added: "I am so, so devastated to hear of the passing away of [Jonah Lomu]. The greatest superstar and just a fabulous human being. Deeply saddened."
Irish international Gordon D'Arcy wrote: "Jonah, a legend of the game and a lovely man off the field. He will be missed. Thoughts with his family. RIP Jonah."

And scrum-half for Sale and Ireland, Peter Stringer, added: "So sad to hear that Jonah Lomu has passed away. "He was a superstar that changed our game forever and above all, a true gentleman. RIP Jonah.



Jonah Lomu: The day black taxi driver Michael gave All Blacks legend the tour of Belfast - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

[BaitongBoy]

Reminds me of Walter Payton who also died young, maybe in his 40's, from some rare liver disease...Another great human being, humble in spite of his immense talent and appeal...

[harrybarracuda]

John ‘Cha Cha’ Ciarcia, ‘Sopranos’ Actor and Restaurateur, Dies at 75

DECEMBER 1, 2015 | 07:04PM PT
Alyssa Sage




John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia, guest actor on “The Sopranos” and owner of a bustling Italian restaurant in New York’s Little Italy, died Nov. 21 at NYU Langone Medical Center following a brief illness. He was 75.

Dubbed the “unofficial mayor of Little Italy,” Ciarcia’s acting career included film appearances alongside long-time friend Danny DeVito in “Hoffa” and “Death to Smoochy,” in addition to his guest role on HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

Decades ago, Ciarcia served as the boxing manager to Tony Danza, who he later co-starred with in “A Brooklyn State of Mind.”

Both DeVito and Danza, along with his other high-profile showbiz pals including Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese, would later become regulars at Ciarcia’s Mulberry St. restaurant, Cha Cha’s In Bocca Al Lupo. The Brooklyn-born restaurateur also once owned a Coney Island bar, which failed to recuperate following the damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Ciarcia was also a frequent guest on radio program “The Wiseguy Show,” which is hosted by fellow former “The Sopranos” actor Vincent Pastore.

Link

[snakeeyes]

Which one is Cha Cha ? , the fat one ,

[kmart]

^Yeah, the fat little guy. Tony Danza is next to him.

[Eliminator]

Yes, it's the fat guy. I think the other guy is Tony Danza.

[harrybarracuda]

And after round 1, Eliminator and Kmart lead with a point each, and Snakeyes has yet to get on the scoreboard.

[Sumbitch]

Scott Weiland, Former Stone Temple Pilots Singer, Dead at 48


Scott Weiland performs onstage during the SXSW Radio Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center on March 19, 2015 in Austin, Texas.

Weiland was also the frontman for Velvet Revolver.

Scott Weiland, the former frontman for rock bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, has died, his Facebook page confirmed early Friday morning (Dec. 4).

"Scott Weiland, best known as the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, passed away in his sleep while on a tour stop in Bloomington, Minnesota, with his band The Wildabouts," a post on Weiland's Facebook page reads. "At this time we ask that the privacy of Scott’s family be respected."

Dave Navarro, guitarist and member of Jane's Addiction, first tweeted the news at 9:01 p.m. PT on Thursday night: "Our friend Scott Weiland has died." (He has since deleted the tweet.)

Scott Weiland Mourned by Krist Novoselic, Joe Perry, Ryan Adams & More

Weiland and his latest band, Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts, were scheduled to tour this month with upcoming dates at Reno, NV on Dec. 18 and City Winery in Napa on Dec. 19.

The Bloomington, Minn. Police Department issued a statement at 11:15 p.m. PT detailing the events as such: On Dec. 3rd at 8:22 p.m., officers responded to a report of an unresponsive adult male in a recreational motor vehicle located in the 2200 block of Killebrew Drive. "Officers arrived and determined the adult male was deceased," read the release, which did not identify the deceased. The address seems to correspond to a local Country Inn & Suites hotel.

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will continue investigating the death with updates to come.

Weiland turned 48 on Oct. 27. He long suffered from substance abuse issues.

A California native, Weiland formed the band Stone Temple Pilots with brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo and saw huge commercial success in the 1990s. In 1993, the band’s debut album Core peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 followed by an even bigger achievement a year later in 1994, when STP released the No. 1 album Purple, which contained several radio hits including the songs “Big Empty,” “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song.”

The band would eventually land 11 top 10 hits on the Alternative Songs chart, including the three-week No. 1 "Between the Lines" in 2010. "Interstate Love Song" led the Mainstream Rock Songs chart for 15 weeks.

Featuring Weiland’s distinctive lower register singing style, a sort of growl that grew ever more popular in the post-grunge years, STP went on to sell 13.5 million albums in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, but infighting eventually drove the members apart. The band took the first of several hiatuses just a few years after reaching their apex of their popularity, during which Weiland participated in several side projects.

Scott Weiland's Chart History, From Stone Temple Pilots to Velvet Revolver to the Wildabouts

Stone Temple Pilots would carry on in various incarnation in the coming years. Most recently, the group recruited Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington to handle frontman duties. He announced his exit from the group on Nov. 9.

In 2002, Weiland joined former Guns N' Roses members Slash (guitars), Duff McKagan (bass) and Matt Sorum (drums) in a supergroup called Velvet Revolver. They released an album called Contraband in June 2004 and another in 2007 called Libertad, the last to feature Weiland on vocals. Combined, they sold 2.4 million units.

By then, Weiland had weathered several public run-ins with the law, mostly due to drug use and driving under the influence. In 1995, the singer was convicted of buying crack cocaine and sentenced to probation. In 2003 and 2007 Weiland was arrested for D.U.I. Heroin was also a drug of choice for Weiland, who had check into a rehabilitation facility but did not finish the program, according to reports around 2007.

Tributes to the late singer have been pouring in from all over the music world. Former MTV VJ and longtime radio personality Matt Pinfield wrote on Facebook “I am speechless … and sad at the loss of my friend, and although many of you are probably not surprised, it doesn't make it any easier. Addiction sucks. I will miss you Scott.”

[BaitongBoy]

Bad luck to be involved with that Sopranos series...

That's three gone now, innit?...

[harrybarracuda]

'Scarface' and 'Sopranos' actor Robert Loggia dies at 85
by Jeffrey Fleishman




bert Loggia, an Academy Award-nominated actor who embodied both swagger and mischievous charm, notably as a too-trusting Miami crime boss in “Scarface,” died Friday at his home in Los Angeles from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 85.

Loggia, who could be both sly and sweet, carried an everyman’s understanding and a con-man’s cleverness to roles ranging from the owner of a toy company opposite Tom Hanks in “Big” to his Oscar-nominated turn as sordid private detective Sam Ransom in “Jagged Edge,” written by Joe Eszterhas and starring Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges.

He was born in Staten Island, N.Y., on Jan. 3 1930, played in memorable dramas and comedies during the 1980s and ‘90s. His resume included “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Prizzi’s Honor” and “The Ninth Configuration.”

Though he was nominated for a lead actor in a drama Emmy for his portrayal of a nonconformist investigator in “Mancuso, F.B.I.,” Loggia was less than pleased with the experience.

“I really believed in that character,” he told The Times in 1991. “I wanted to do it, and Brandon Tartikoff [then NBC president] promised me that if I agreed to do it he would make it right. But it didn't happen with NBC Productions (the company that produced the series), which is a separate entity from Brandon and NBC. They didn't make the show that was promised me and that I promised affiliates and sponsors.”

Loggia said the show was supposed to tell “bonafide” FBI stories. “They started to go into demographics and whom my secretary was sleeping with and Frick and Frack with a lady partner,” he said. “FBI people don't have partners to begin with, so it was like the sexual escapade of the week.”

Often referred to as a tough guy, Loggia could be suave and tender. His voice could go raspy and then slip to silken. He was also playful. In “Big,” he and Hanks, a boy magically turned into a man, played “Chopsticks” while dancing over large, lighted piano keys on the floor. The film was directed by Penny Marshall.

But he excelled at playing men with rap sheets and unsettled demons. He appeared in “The Sopranos” as Michele “Feech” La Manna, who sought his place back in the mob after a prison stint. He once summed up his talent as: “I'm a character actor in that I play many different roles, and I'm virtually unrecognizable from one role to another. So I never wear out my welcome.”

The son of Italian immigrants, Loggia was raised in Manhattan’s Little Italy. As a student at the University of Missouri, he studied journalism, but that passion faded when he returned to New York and enrolled at the Actors Studio. In his first film ,in 1956, he played a mobster opposite Paul Newman in “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” based on the life of boxer Rocky Graziano.

He is survived by his wife, Audrey Loggia, and children.

'Scarface' and 'Sopranos' actor Robert Loggia dies at 85 - LA Times

[harrybarracuda]

Are You Being Served? actor Nicholas Smith dies aged 81
PUBLISHED
07/12/2015



Actor Nicholas Smith, best known for playing Mr Cuthbert Rumbold in BBC comedy Are You Being Served?, has died aged 81.

"It is with great sadness we can confirm that our client, the actor Nicholas Smith, passed away yesterday," said a statement from his agent, Michelle Braidman Associates.

It continued: "He was a lovely man and a terrific actor. He will be much missed by all who knew him. Our thoughts are with his family."

The actor died in hospital on Sunday.

His daughter is actress Catherine Russell, who plays Serena Campbell in Holby City.

Are You Being Served? first aired in 1972, with Smith as Mr Rumbold, the manager of fictional department store Grace Brothers.

Smith was a fixture on the show until its end in 1985, and was the last surviving member of the original cast.

Early notable TV appearances included a stint in a 1964 Doctor Who episode titled The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. He also appeared in shows such as The Saint and The Champions.

Are You Being Served? also starred the likes of Frank Thornton and former EastEnders star Wendy Richard.

Thornton died in 2013 aged 92 and Richard died after battling breast cancer in 2009.

Other members of the original cast included J ohn Inman and Mollie Sugden, both of whom have also died.



Are You Being Served? actor Nicholas Smith dies aged 81 - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

[harrybarracuda]

'Six Million Dollar Man' Star Martin E. Brooks Dead At Age 90
Brooks was best-known for his role as Dr. Rudy Wells on the 1970s series.



Martin E. Brooks, the actor known for playing Dr. Rudy Wells on TV’s The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, died Monday of natural causes. He was 90.

Hollywood producer Jon Landau confirmed the news to EW and said Brooks was the “soul mate” of his mother, Edie Landau, for the past 20 years. Brooks and Edie Landau were childhood friends in Pennsylvania and reconnected decades later, after her husband, Ely Landau, died in 1993.

Brooks was the third and most frequent actor to portray Wells, the doctor and scientist who outfits the titular characters Steve Austin (Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) with cybernetic implants on the two 1970s series. Brooks also returned for three TV movies.

His other television credits included Dallas, Knots Landing, McMillan & Wife, Hunter, General Hospital, and Cagney & Lacey.

Born in the Bronx borough of New York City, Martin moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., with his family at age 10 and served as a paratrooper in the South Pacific during World War II. He attended Penn State University after the war, and studied and worked in theater in New York before making his way to Hollywood.

Landau said of Brooks, “It’s not so much how Marty approached his work so much as how he approached life, which was full of vim and vigor. He had the most positive attitude.”

Martin E. Brooks dies: Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman actor dead at 90 | EW.com

[misskit]

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident



Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face outdoor company who poured millions into conservation, has died after falling into near-freezing waters during a kayak accident in southern Chile.

Tompkins, 72, was taken with acute hypothermia to a hospital in Coyhaique after high winds flipped his adventure kayak during a trip across Lake General Carrera in Patagonia on Tuesday, reports said. He died about six hours after arriving at hospital in the regional capital.

The pioneering clothing and equipment designer, who also co-founded the Esprit apparel brand, had for the last quarter of a century spent millions of dollars financing national parks. He and wife Kristine saved an estimated two million acres of pristine South American ecosystems.

In 1989 Tompkins abandoned his wealthy corporate lifestyle and estate in San Francisco as he moved to the wilds of Patagonia. Spending months hiking, kayaking and exploring the southern rainforests, Tompkins adopted the values of the deep ecology movement and commenced a determined conservation battle. Beginning in Chile and then in Argentina, he campaigned with coalitions of environmental activists as he battled to stop developers churning through pristine forests, wetlands and coastal prairies.

Tompkins was regularly harassed by the Chilean government and clashed with business interests as he sought to limit what he saw as environmentally destructive industries including salmon farming and logging. However, Sebastián Pinéra – a self-made billionaire and president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 – followed Tompkins’s example by buying up a huge portion of Chiloe island and turning it into a showcase for environmental conservation. Unlike previous Chilean presidents, Pinéra lauded Tompkins for his efforts.

In one of his final interviews, published last month in Paula, a Chilean magazine, Tompkins was asked about his legacy. “People will walk on these lands,” he said. “Don’t you think that’s more beautiful than a tomb?”

Despite powerful opposition he remained determined until the end to turn his land holdings into national parks.

“It is pretty hard for a country to turn down a gift of 300,000 hectares,” he explained in a 2007 interview. “In Argentina we had a big blow-up over the purchase of conservation lands … then we said to the ministries and to [then] President [Nestor] Kirchner, ‘Hey look guys. We are taking land from the private sector – sometimes buying it from foreigners – and giving it back to the state.’ That has a tendency to quell a lot of waters.”

While Tompkins was brutally critical of his home country in many respects, he was a staunch defender of its conservation ethic. “Despite my great disappointment in American foreign policy I am very proud of the American tradition of wild land conservation,” he said. “It is the best tradition and example of land conservation in the world. It goes back a long way. Every single national park had some component of private philanthropy.”

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident | Environment | The Guardian

[Cujo]

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident



Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face outdoor company who poured millions into conservation, has died after falling into near-freezing waters during a kayak accident in southern Chile.

Tompkins, 72, was taken with acute hypothermia to a hospital in Coyhaique after high winds flipped his adventure kayak during a trip across Lake General Carrera in Patagonia on Tuesday, reports said. He died about six hours after arriving at hospital in the regional capital.

The pioneering clothing and equipment designer, who also co-founded the Esprit apparel brand, had for the last quarter of a century spent millions of dollars financing national parks. He and wife Kristine saved an estimated two million acres of pristine South American ecosystems.

In 1989 Tompkins abandoned his wealthy corporate lifestyle and estate in San Francisco as he moved to the wilds of Patagonia. Spending months hiking, kayaking and exploring the southern rainforests, Tompkins adopted the values of the deep ecology movement and commenced a determined conservation battle. Beginning in Chile and then in Argentina, he campaigned with coalitions of environmental activists as he battled to stop developers churning through pristine forests, wetlands and coastal prairies.

Tompkins was regularly harassed by the Chilean government and clashed with business interests as he sought to limit what he saw as environmentally destructive industries including salmon farming and logging. However, Sebastián Pinéra – a self-made billionaire and president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 – followed Tompkins’s example by buying up a huge portion of Chiloe island and turning it into a showcase for environmental conservation. Unlike previous Chilean presidents, Pinéra lauded Tompkins for his efforts.

In one of his final interviews, published last month in Paula, a Chilean magazine, Tompkins was asked about his legacy. “People will walk on these lands,” he said. “Don’t you think that’s more beautiful than a tomb?”

Despite powerful opposition he remained determined until the end to turn his land holdings into national parks.

“It is pretty hard for a country to turn down a gift of 300,000 hectares,” he explained in a 2007 interview. “In Argentina we had a big blow-up over the purchase of conservation lands … then we said to the ministries and to [then] President [Nestor] Kirchner, ‘Hey look guys. We are taking land from the private sector – sometimes buying it from foreigners – and giving it back to the state.’ That has a tendency to quell a lot of waters.”

While Tompkins was brutally critical of his home country in many respects, he was a staunch defender of its conservation ethic. “Despite my great disappointment in American foreign policy I am very proud of the American tradition of wild land conservation,” he said. “It is the best tradition and example of land conservation in the world. It goes back a long way. Every single national park had some component of private philanthropy.”

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident | Environment | The Guardian

Not in the least itty bit famous FFS.

[harrybarracuda]

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident



Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face outdoor company who poured millions into conservation, has died after falling into near-freezing waters during a kayak accident in southern Chile.

Tompkins, 72, was taken with acute hypothermia to a hospital in Coyhaique after high winds flipped his adventure kayak during a trip across Lake General Carrera in Patagonia on Tuesday, reports said. He died about six hours after arriving at hospital in the regional capital.

The pioneering clothing and equipment designer, who also co-founded the Esprit apparel brand, had for the last quarter of a century spent millions of dollars financing national parks. He and wife Kristine saved an estimated two million acres of pristine South American ecosystems.

In 1989 Tompkins abandoned his wealthy corporate lifestyle and estate in San Francisco as he moved to the wilds of Patagonia. Spending months hiking, kayaking and exploring the southern rainforests, Tompkins adopted the values of the deep ecology movement and commenced a determined conservation battle. Beginning in Chile and then in Argentina, he campaigned with coalitions of environmental activists as he battled to stop developers churning through pristine forests, wetlands and coastal prairies.

Tompkins was regularly harassed by the Chilean government and clashed with business interests as he sought to limit what he saw as environmentally destructive industries including salmon farming and logging. However, Sebastián Pinéra – a self-made billionaire and president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 – followed Tompkins’s example by buying up a huge portion of Chiloe island and turning it into a showcase for environmental conservation. Unlike previous Chilean presidents, Pinéra lauded Tompkins for his efforts.

In one of his final interviews, published last month in Paula, a Chilean magazine, Tompkins was asked about his legacy. “People will walk on these lands,” he said. “Don’t you think that’s more beautiful than a tomb?”

Despite powerful opposition he remained determined until the end to turn his land holdings into national parks.

“It is pretty hard for a country to turn down a gift of 300,000 hectares,” he explained in a 2007 interview. “In Argentina we had a big blow-up over the purchase of conservation lands … then we said to the ministries and to [then] President [Nestor] Kirchner, ‘Hey look guys. We are taking land from the private sector – sometimes buying it from foreigners – and giving it back to the state.’ That has a tendency to quell a lot of waters.”

While Tompkins was brutally critical of his home country in many respects, he was a staunch defender of its conservation ethic. “Despite my great disappointment in American foreign policy I am very proud of the American tradition of wild land conservation,” he said. “It is the best tradition and example of land conservation in the world. It goes back a long way. Every single national park had some component of private philanthropy.”

Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of North Face, dies after Chile kayak accident | Environment | The Guardian

Not in the least itty bit famous FFS.

He was a giant in the Thailand fake clothing industry, what are you on about.

[BaitongBoy]

Another "Soprano" bites the dust...

[harrybarracuda]

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 9, 2015) -- Holocaust survivor, Korean War hero, and Medal of Honor recipient Tibor Rubin died Dec. 5, 2015, of natural causes. The Garden Grove, California, resident was 86 years old when he passed.

Rubin, born in Pásztó, Hungary, in 1929, found himself in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, at age 13. The Nazis had murdered his father, mother and sister before the young man was freed from the camp, on May 5, 1945, by elements of the 11th Armored Division from Patton's own 3rd Army.

In 1948, Rubin moved to the United States, and by 1950 he had enlisted in the U.S. Army as a way to show his appreciation for his newly adopted country.

Rubin served in the Korean War as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On Oct. 30, 1950, after an intense nighttime battle, in which Rubin manned a .30-caliber machine gun where three previous gunners had been killed, he was wounded and captured by the Chinese. He spent 30 months in a prisoner-of-war camp in North Korea.

It was Rubin's actions during his time in Korea that earned him the Medal of Honor, though recognition wouldn't come for the Soldier until some 55 years later, at age 76, when President George W. Bush placed the medal around his neck. That ceremony happened Sept. 23, 2005, at the White House.

Speaking during the event, President Bush said that by awarding the Medal of Honor to Rubin, the U.S. had acknowledged a debt "that time has not diminished."

"Corporal Tibor 'Ted' Rubin's many acts of courage during the Korean War saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow Soldiers," Bush said, during the ceremony. "In the heat of battle, he inspired his comrades with his fearlessness, and amid the inhumanity of a Chinese prisoner of war camp, he gave them hope."

"Many heroes are remembered in monuments of stone," Bush continued. "The monuments to Corporal Rubin are a legacy of life. We see his legacy in the many American families whose husbands, fathers and sons returned home safely because of his efforts. We see his legacy in the free and democratic South Korea that grew on the soil of his sacrifice. And we see his legacy in a new generation of American men and women in uniform who were inspired to their own acts of courage and compassion."

HEROIC, COMPASSIONATE ACTIONS

In Korea, at the end of October 1950, thousands of Chinese troops were laying in wait. Masters of camouflage, they blended into the brush and burned fires to produce smoke to mask their movements. When Soldiers of the 8th Cavalry Regiment were stretched before them like sitting ducks, the Chinese swarmed in.

"The whole mountain let loose," Rubin recalled, during a 2005 interview.

In 1950, Rubin had been a corporal serving in the 8th Cav.'s 3rd Battalion. On Oct. 30 of that year, the 3rd Bn.'s firepower had dwindled to a single machine gun, which three Soldiers had already died manning. By the time Rubin stepped up to fire, most of his fellow Soldiers felt doomed in the confusion of battle.

"Nobody wanted to take over, but somebody had to. We didn't have anything else left to fight with," Rubin said.

Battle raged for three days around Unsan, then the Chinese pushed the Soldiers south. Those who survived retreated with little or no ammunition and hundreds of wounded. More than 1,000 men of the 8th Cav. were listed as missing in action after the battle, but some returned to friendly lines or were rescued by tank patrols in the following weeks.

Earlier in the war, as the 8th Cav. moved toward the Pusan Perimeter, Rubin kept to the rear to ward off North Koreans nipping at his battalion's heels. 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," Rubin said. "I couldn't think straight -- in a situation like that, you become hysterical trying to save your life."

Cpl. Leonard Hamm, one of Rubin's fellow Soldiers, had submitted a Medal of Honor nomination for Rubin. In it he wrote: "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."

When Hamm himself was later severely wounded, it was Rubin who fought to go back for him when the first sergeant issued orders to leave him behind.

"We didn't know if he was dead," Rubin said. "All I could think about was that somebody back home was waiting for him to return."

Rubin was pinned down by snipers and forced to low-crawl for several hundred yards during his rescue of Hamm, whose body was so loaded with shrapnel that he could hardly lift a limb.

"Rubin not only saved my life by carrying me to safety; he kept the North Korean snipers off our butts," Hamm said.

A PRISONER AGAIN

When battle ended in Unsan, hundreds of Soldiers were taken prisoner by the Chinese. They were forced to march to a camp known today as "Death Valley." The Soldiers were ill-dressed for winter's freezing temperatures, exhausted and hungry.

Many of those Soldiers grew sick with dysentery, pneumonia or hepatitis. Others died.

"It was so cold that nobody wanted to move, and the food we got was barely enough to keep us alive," said former Sgt. Richard A. Whalen. "But Rubin was a tremendous asset to us, keeping our spirits up when no one felt good."

Years in a Nazi concentration camp had taught Rubin ways of survival that most humans never need know. He knew how to make soup out of grass, what weeds had medicinal qualities and that the human body can sometimes prevail if a person's mind is in the right place.

What his comrades needed, Rubin knew, was hope -- hope to keep them moving and hope to make them fight for their lives.

"Some of them gave up, and some of them prayed to be taken," Rubin remembers. He held pep talks, reminding the Soldiers of the families awaiting their safe return home. He stole food for them to eat, nagged them to "debug" themselves of the relentless lice and even nursed them through sickness.

"He'd go out of his way to do favors to help us survive," said Sgt. Leo Cormier, a fellow POW. "I once saw him spend the whole night picking lice off a guy who didn't have the strength to lift his head. What man would do that? I'd have told him to go down and soak in the cold water so the lice would all fall off. But Ted did things for his fellow men that made him a hero in my book."

Rubin thought the best way to overpower his captors was by hitting them where it hurt most -- their bellies.

"They didn't have much more food to eat than we did," Rubin said. "One potato would have been worth a million dollars if any of us had had it to give."

So when night fell he stole corn, millet and barley. And when the Chinese planted a "victory" garden, he snuck past armed guards to reap the harvest, stuffing his pants full of radishes, green onions and cucumbers.

"The Chinese would've cut Ted's throat if they'd caught him stealing. It still amazes me that they never did catch him," said Cormier. "What he did to help us could have meant the sacrifice of his own life."

Rubin and Cormier became fast friends as POWs. They were assigned as "bunkmates," although mud floors served as beds for the hundreds of men confined together in small rooms.

When dysentery seized Cormier's body, Rubin stayed at his side and nursed him. Fellow prisoners credit Rubin with saving the lives of more than 40 Soldiers during his imprisonment at "Death Valley" and later at Camp 5 in Pyoktong. About 1,600 U.S. Soldiers died in Camp 5 in early 1951.

Rubin was repatriated under "Operation Little Switch," the initial exchange of sick and wounded prisoners from April 20 to May 3, 1953.

A HERO IS BORN

Life as a prisoner under the Nazis and the Chinese are incomparable for Rubin. Of his Chinese captors, Rubin says only that they were "human" and somewhat lenient.

Of the Nazis, Rubin remains baffled by their capacity to kill. He was just a boy when he lost his parents and two little sisters to the Nazi's brutality.

"In Mauthausen, they told us right away, 'You Jews, none of you will ever make it out of here alive," Rubin remembers. "Every day so many people were killed. Bodies piled up God knows how high. We had nothing to look forward to but dying. It was a most terrible thing, like a horror movie."

American Soldiers swept into the camp on May 5, 1945, to liberate the prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp. It is still a miraculous day for Rubin, indelibly imprinted in his heart.

"The American Soldiers had great compassion for us. Even though we were filthy, we stunk and had diseases, they picked us up and brought us back to life," Rubin said.

"I made a promise that I would go to the United States and join the Army to express my thanks," Rubin said.

Three years later he arrived in New York. Two years after that he passed the English language test -- after two attempts and with "more than a little help," he jokes -- and joined the Army. He was shipped to the 29th Infantry Regiment in Okinawa. When the Korean War broke out, Rubin was summoned by his company commander.

"The 29th Inf. Regt. is mobilizing. You are not a U.S. citizen, so we can't take you -- a lot of us are going to get killed. We'll send you to Japan or Germany," Rubin remembers being told.

"But I could not just leave my unit for some 'safe' zone," Rubin said. "I was with these guys in basic training. Even though I wasn't a citizen yet, America was my country."

Rubin eventually got what he wanted -- an opportunity to fight in Korea. That opportunity for him turned out to also be a boon for those Soldiers who served alongside him.

"I'm beholden to him," said Cormier, who watched Rubin bend over backward for his brothers in arms. Luck was also on Whalen's side, because he was herded to "Death Valley" alongside Rubin.

"I have to say this was the luckiest break of my life because he and I went up that valley together, and we were assigned to the same house," Whalen said. "I wouldn't be here today without him."

The same could be said of former Cpl. James E. Bourgeois, for whom Rubin cleaned wounds and bandages with boiled snow.

"At one time my wounds got so infected, he put maggots in them to prevent gangrene from setting in. This, I am sure, not only saved my left arm -- which I have full use of today -- but also my life," Bourgeois said.

"He saved a lot of GI's lives. He gave them the courage to go on living when a lot of guys didn't make it," Cormier said. "He saved my life when I could have laid in a ditch and died -- I was nothing but flesh and bones."

When being admired for his courage, Rubin was quick to wave off praise. His acts had more to do with his vow to serve than with heroism, he said.

"The real heroes are those who never came home. I was just lucky," Rubin said. "This Medal of Honor belongs to all prisoners of war, to all the heroes who died fighting in those wars."

Following the 2005 Medal of Honor Ceremony at the White House, Rubin was also inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon. There, he said that living in America was his dream come true and that his service in the Army was his way of paying back the country that was so kind to him.

"I could never have dreamed of being here with the Medal of Honor and joining other heroes, but my dream came true in the greatest country in the world," Rubin said. "The real heroes ... are the Soldiers who give their lives defending freedom."

A funeral for Rubin was held Dec. 8, 2015. Rubin's wife, Yvonne; daughter, Rosie; son, Frank; and sister, Edith Rittri, survive him.

(Editor's note: Original articles by Beth Reece and then-Sgt. Sara Wood are included in this report.)

[Latindancer]

^ This guy was not famous in some circles either, but I'm glad I read about his extraordinary life here, and perhaps learn something from it. RIP.

And Douglas Tompkins deserves our respect too.




But you don't, with comments like that, Cujo - Curmudgeon.

[misskit]

Some of these people lived extraordinary and/or exemplary lives, even though not grandly famous.

[Cujo]

^ This guy was not famous in some circles either, but I'm glad I read about his extraordinary life here, and perhaps learn something from it. RIP.

And Douglas Tompkins deserves our respect too.




But you don't, with comments like that, Cujo - Curmudgeon.

Comments like what?

[Latindancer]

This :

Not in the least itty bit famous FFS.

What else ?

[harrybarracuda]

I don't think Cujo is very good at reading.

He just looks at the pictures.

[BaitongBoy]

Today, we'll talk about the letter, "R"...

[kmart]

Some of these people lived extraordinary and/or exemplary lives, even though not grandly famous.

Yep, exactly. Tried, and indeed succeeded in making the world a better place.

"Famous" in the modern sense of getting 'likes' on FB, or winning a talent show means fukc all to me.

[Cujo]

This :

Not in the least itty bit famous FFS.

What else ?

pretty bloody innocuous isn't it, just pointing out that the subject of the post in the 'RIP FAMOUS people' thread, was, in fact, not the least bit famous.
Not being disrespectful to the poster or the subject of the post.

Go wash the sand out of your vagina.