Leonard Kravitz, would-be uncle and namesake of rock icon Lenny Kravitz, went to Korea in 1951 and never came back. This Jewish soldier went apocalyptic defending his platoon against Chinese soldiers and was recommended for the Medal of Honor by his company commander. “But in what many attribute to longtime prejudices against Jews in the armed forces,” writes The Sun Sentinel’s Howard Goodman, Kravitz ended up with the nation’s second-highest medal for bravery, the Distinguished Service Cross.”
Of more than 3,400 Medals of Honor awarded since 1861, only 17 have gone to Jews, despite studies by Jewish groups saying that Jews, who make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population, constituted about 5 percent of the U.S. military in during WWII and the Korean war. But our forgotten soldiers have an ally in U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who offered a bill that passed in 2001 requiring the Pentagon to “review the records of under-recognized Jews.” They should be finished around 2006, when Lenny can dedicate a shredding guitar solo to his brave, ass-kicking uncle.
For more info on Jewish soldiers in American wars, check out www.gijew.com.