Leonard Martin Kravitz (August 8, 1930 – March 7, 1951) was an American soldier in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

who served in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. He is a posthumous recipient of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

Early life and family

Leonard Kravitz was born and raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. His parents were Jean (Kaufman) and Joseph Kravitz. Private Kravitz was the younger brother of filmmaker and TV producer Sy KravitzLisa Ferdinando, U.S. Army
Lenny Kravitz honors uncle, Medal of Honor recipient
March 18, 2014 and uncle of popular musician

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male R ...

Medal of Honor

On March 6/7, 1951, Kravitz' unit's positions at Jipyeong-ri were overrun by the enemy. Kravitz voluntarily operated a machine-gun position, forcing the enemy to direct its efforts against him and helping his comrades to retreat at the cost of his own life. Kravitz was reported to have shouted to his comrades, "Get the hell out of here while you can!" When American troops retook their position, they found that Kravitz had killed a large number of enemy soldiers before dying in action.Michael Daly,

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

Rocker Lenny Kravitz’s Namesake Receives Medal of Honor
March 19, 2014 The award was made as a result of the

National Defense Authorization Act The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the name for each of a series of United States federal laws specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense. The first NDAA was passed in 1961. The U.S. Congress o ...

of 2002 which called for a review of Jewish American and Hispanic American veterans of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Korean War and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

to ensure that no prejudice was shown to those deserving the Medal of Honor. The re-examination of the Medal of Honor process was pursued for over half a century by Mitchel Libman, who had been Kravitz's childhood friend from

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...

. Libman's research led him to conclude that a number of Jewish recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross should have been nominated for the Medal of Honor instead. After decades of lobbying, Libman convinced Representative

Robert Wexler Robert Ira Wexler (born January 2, 1961) is an American politician and lawyer from Florida. He is the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Wexler was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Represe ...

to propose the "Leonard Kravitz Jewish War Veterans Act of 2001".Bethanne Kelly Patrick, Military.com
Supporters Say Fallen Korean War Soldier And Many Other Jewish War Heroes May Deserve Medals Of Honor
2001. The legislation was ultimately not adopted, but its consideration led Congress to direct the armed forces to re-examine past practices in selecting Medal of Honor recipients. When the decision was made in 2012 to award the Medal of Honor to Kravitz, President Obama phoned Libman personally to inform him.

Early life and family

Medal of Honor

Awards and decorations

Medal of Honor citation

References

See also