New Heroes Hall exhibit sheds light on Jewish American Medal of Honor recipients

A new exhibit at the Heroes Hall veterans museum on the Orange County fairgrounds aims to introduce visitors to the 18 Jewish Americans awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their acts of bravery and courage on battlefields, from the Civil War through Afghanistan.

“Valor & Virtue: Jewish American Medal of Honor Recipients” opened Thursday and runs through March, with an opening reception on Sunday, from 2 to 4 p.m.

The collection of artifacts, photographs and historical documents is on loan from the Jewish American Military Historical Society, a nonprofit formed five years ago by Long Beach resident Sam Yudin, a command sergeant major in the California Army National Guard.

A new “Valor & Virtue” exhibit at Heroes Hall features artifacts, letters and documents on loan from the Jewish American Military Historical Society.

(Courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center)

The organization aims to educate the public and to preserve and interpret the historical impacts of Jewish individuals to the U.S. military and civil service, in part, through the display of the “Valor & Virtue” exhibit, which had circulated through various institutions before Yudin assumed custody in 2018.

Yudin said he was contacted by Brent Ogden, a Newport Beach resident who works as an exhibits specialist for Heroes Hall and volunteers with the National Guard and JAMHS, about bringing the exhibit to the Orange County museum.

“It’s important to tell our history, particularly our military history from diverse perspectives,” Yudin said Friday. “Our military history is a bunch of differently colored threads coming together to make a beautiful fabric.”

“Valor & Virtue” tells the story of the Medal of Honor recipients, beginning with U.S. Army private Benjamin Levy, who received the award in 1865 for taking up the gun of a sick comrade and, when his unit’s color bearers were shot down, carrying the colors to save them from capture.

Christopher Celiz was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2021 for heroic acts displayed during the war in Afghanistan.

(Courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center)

The list of heroic acts runs throughout numerous battles, leading up to the war in Afghanistan and Sgt. First Class Christopher Celiz, who died in 2018 while providing a clearance against enemy combatants so wounded comrades could make it to safety. He was posthumously honored with the Medal of Honor in 2021.

At the heart of the exhibit is the story of Tibor Rubin, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to America in 1948 and eventually enlisted in the Army after being inspired by the U.S. soldiers who’d liberated him from a concentration camp in Austria.

Rubin served in the Korean War, where his courageous acts in the face of unspeakable odds were largely overlooked by superiors, due to his religion. Not long after his arrival, he was captured and detained in a Chinese prisoner of war camp, where he spent 30 months.

During his imprisonment, Rubin reportedly saved 40 lives by sneaking out to obtain food for his fellow imprisoned servicemen and to secure medical supplies, according to Yudin, who would later get to know Rubin as he lived in Garden Grove in the years before his passing in 2015.

A wall dedicated to Tibor Rubin, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the U.S. and served in the Korean War, becoming a prisoner of war.

(Courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center)

“Growing up Jewish, you often hear war stories of the Israeli Defense Force, but you don’t really have many Jewish American war heroes,” he said.

Rubin’s daughter will participate in Sunday’s opening reception, where she is expected to speak on her father’s life and service. Yudin said he hopes people are inspired when they learn of the heroic acts of Jewish people on battlefields throughout American history.

“Every person who hears these stories can emulate the virtues of these people, who sacrificed themselves for others,” Yudin said.

“The virtues they lived out on the battlefield, like caring for others when no one else was, or providing comfort to wounded comrades — these acts of kindness, maybe we can’t do them on a battlefield, but we can do it every day in our lives.”

“Valor & Virtue: Jewish American Medal of Honor Recipients” runs through March at Heroes Hall, open Wednesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 77 Fair Drive, in Costa Mesa. Admission is free. For more, visit ocfair.com/heroes-hall, call (714) 708-1613 or email heroeshall@ocfair.com.