39. “The Kind of Guy That Everybody Likes“
The ceremony was the direct result of a dogged quest by PFC Kravitz’s best friend, Mitch Libman, to correct an injustice visited upon his buddy. “Dogged quest” in this case is no figure of speech: Libman spent over fifty years to make sure that his friend got the award he deserved.
Libman and Kravitz grew up together in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, and were best friends since childhood. As Libman put it: “Lenny was the kind of guy that everybody likes. He was a neighborhood guy“. Born in 1931, Lenny was too young to serve in WWII. However, his older brother Seymour, the rocker’s father, had served in the Marines and was lionized as a hero upon his return. Lenny wanted to emulate his big brother, and decided to enlist when the Korean War broke out in 1950.