Jewish World Review March 1, 2001 / 6 Adar, 5761
Bill before Congress calls for a review of American-Jewish vets' war records
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
TAKE some numbers that don't seem to add up. Stir in an old friendship and
incredible perservance. Let stand for four decades.
The result is a proposed piece of legislation, just introduced in Congress, to correct an injustice that might have been done to some brave American Jews who fought in this country's wars.
The Leonard Kravitz Jewish War Veterans Act of 2001 -- introduced by Rep.
Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) with support from Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), Rep.
Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) -- instructs the Pentagon
to review the records of Jewish war veterans who were awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross or Air Force Cross to determine
whether their acts of bravery should have received the Congressional Medal of
Honor, the country's highest award for bravery.
The rationale for the bill are those peculiar numbers. According to the U.S.
Army Center of Military History's Web site, more than 3,400 Congressional
Medals of Honor have been awarded since the decoration's inception in 1861.
The number of Jewish recipients, of course, depends on how you define Jewish.
Al Lerner of Silver Spring, Maryland, who is commander of JWV Harold Greenberg Post
#692, puts that number at 44. Pamela Feltus, curator National Museum of
American Jewish Military History, says there are only 13 "confirmed Jews" ---
people who identified themselves as Jewish.
The Pentagon doesn't keep track of numbers of different minority groups
serving in the military, but studies have shown that Jews have served at a
higher proportion than their percentage of the United States' population,
historically at around 5 percent. At that figure, the number of Jewish Medal
of Honor recipients should be around 170, if those medal winners were
proportional to the percentage of Jews serving in the U.S. Army.
There were no Jews among the 136 recipients of that award in the Korean
Conflict.
Those figures seem to indicate a discrepancy.
"There has been discrimination, but not only against Jews," says Lerner.
However, Mitchel Libman of Hollywood, Fla., wasn't interested in numbers but
in his old friend, Leonard Kravitz. The two had grown up together in
Brooklyn, N.Y., and they had been together in 1951 the day before Kravitz had
been shipped to Korea.
Kravitz died in combat. About eight years ago, more than 40 years after the
event, Libman decided to find out the details of his boyhood friend's death.
After a bureaucratic battle, Libman learned that his friend had died
valiantly. On March 7, 1951, Kravitz's platoon was attacked by a large number
of Chinese soldiers. The machine gunner was killed and Kravitz took his place.
The unit was ordered to retreat, but Kravitz refused to leave his machine
gun, providing cover for his fellow soldiers and drawing Chinese fire down on
him, instead of his retreating comrades. When the hill was retaken, Kravitz
was found dead on his machine gun, surrounded by dead Chinese troops.
Kravitz, whose nephew and namesake is the popular rock singer Lenny Kravitz,
had been nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, but the award was
downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross. "I couldn't understand why
Lenny didn't get the higher award," Libman remembers.
To get justice for his friend, Libman began a campaign that has lasted for
years. He has written innumerable letters and talked to countless people on
Kravitz's behalf.
Lipman enlisted Wexler, his representative, in his cause and succeeded in
forcing an official review of his friend's record. The army sent a letter
saying the Distinguished Service Cross was "appropriate."
"When I saw that letter, I knew something was wrong," says Lipman. "Over the
years, many people told me 'They don't give the Congressional Medal of Honors
to Jews.' I was in Korea and experienced no prejudice. But that has to be the
reason he [Kravitz] didn't get the Congressional Medal of Honor."
Although his campaign was on Kravitz's behalf, he has heard from many Jewish
veterans throughout the country who read his letters, especially one
published in The Jewish Veteran. It appears as if the apparent injustice done
to Kravitz was not unique.
Josh Rogin of Wexler's office says it is impossible to know how many
American-Jewish soldiers were denied the Congressional Medal of Honor due to
prejudice. But he notes that a law similar to the one introduced last week
was passed in 1996 on behalf of Asian Americans. Following a review of their
records, 21 Asian-American veterans were granted the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
But Libman finds it difficult to forget his friend's bravery --- and the men
who survived because of his valor. "I just think about those men who lived
because of Lenny and got married and had children and grandchildren," he says.
An exhibit, Hall of Heroes: American Jewish Recipients of the Medal of Honor,
will open at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in
By Aaron Leibel
Washington Jewish Week
Aaron Leibel is a writer with Washington Jewish Week. Comment by clicking here.