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Photo by Omar Bradley
Tracy Rayray of Somerset with her Great uncle Tech Sgt. Clarence Edward Rubadou, Jr. with some of his WWII service medals at the Contry Gardens Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

By Marc Munroe Dion
Herald News Staff Reporter
Fri Dec 28, 2007, 12:02 AM EST

Swansea - It wasn’t a big medal, as medals go, but the size of the medal had no relation to the size of Clarence E. Rubadou’s heart.
The old warrior sat stoically in a wheelchair Thursday morning, wearing a 40 year-old Air Force uniform and waiting. His thin hair was slicked straight back and his mustache was neatly clipped.
“I thought it would be all eaten up,” the 88 year-old said of his old uniform. “It’s fine.”
The Somerset native lives in Swansea these days, in the Country Gardens Skilled Nursing Center & Rehabilitation on G.A.R. Highway.
On Thursday, Rubadou received the Korean Service Medal denoting his long ago service in the Korean War.
Rubadou served his country for 30 years, on active duty from 1940 to 1962, a hitch that encompassed World War II and the Korean War. He retired as a technical sergeant, a skilled airplane mechanic.
“He’s very excited,” said Massachusetts National Guard Major Lisa Ahaesy.
He was indeed, and he didn’t mind saying it himself, either.
“I didn’t expect it,” Rubadou said, moments before National Guard Brigadier General Thomas Sellars pinned the ribbon to Rubadou’s old but spotless uniform jacket.
“Clarence had the opportunity to serve in unique times,” Sellars said.
“The military sometimes takes a few minutes to get to things,” Sellars said, explaining why Rubadou was just receiving a medal established by President Harry S. Truman.
The motivating force behind Rubadou’s receipt of his old honor was his great-niece, Tracy Rayray, whose children are in Girl Scouts with Ahaesy’s children.
“He’s been like a grandfather,” Rayray said of Rubadou. “The girls don’t have a grandfather here.
“I think it’s important to honor people while they’re here,” Rayray added.
With Ahaesy’s help, the gears of America’s military ground into motion. Rubadou’s record was examined and it showed him to have been in Japan, within the Korean War theater, and thus able to get the medal.
There was a cake, decorated in red, white and blue, bearing but one inscription in icing, “U.S.A.”
There was an audience, too, including a number of Country Gardens’ residents and staff.
And, of course, there was Rubadou himself, waiting for the medal he won so long ago.
Sellars bent and pinned the medal to Rubadou’s uniform coat, then looked at the little bronze disc for a moment.
“That’s pretty good, Clarence,” Sellars said.
“I feel pretty good right now,” Rubadou said, smiling.

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x603828233

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