Lenny Kravitz’s Hero Uncle and Other Lesser Known American Heroes

Lenny Kravitz’s Hero Uncle and Other Lesser Known American Heroes

Khalid Elhassan - August 18, 2020

Lenny Kravitz’s Hero Uncle and Other Lesser Known American Heroes
Medal of Honor. Stars and Stripes

34. “They Don’t Give Jews the Medal of Honor

For his heroism on March 6-7, 1951, PFC Leonard M. Kravitz was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for valor. Mitch Libman, who served in Korea a few years after the death of his her friend, was convinced that Kravitz deserved the nation’s highest award, the Medal of Honor.

Libman reached that conclusion after reading other Medal of Honor citations that described conduct similar to Kravitz’s. One Medal of Honor citation for a machinegunner in Korea described heroics identical to those for which Kravitz was awarded a DSC. Comparing the citations, Libman figured out why Kravitz did not get a Medal of Honor: he was a Jew. As he put it: “I came to the conclusion that they don’t give Jews the Medal of Honor“.

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