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

Khalid Elhassan August 18, 2020 35 min

American Revolutionary War - United States — The British surrender at Yorktown. Library of Congress

33. “I Talked About Nothing For 50 Years Other Than That“

Mitch Libman with a photo of his childhood buddy. Sun Sentinel

People don’t usually argue about somebody receiving America’s second-highest medal, but Mitch Libman knew that his hero pal deserved the highest one. So he made it his life’s mission to see to it that Kravitz got it. Year after year and decade after decade, Libman investigated the discrepancies in awards when it came to Jews and other minorities, and unearthed a clear pattern of discrimination. He contacted whoever he could think of, from Korean War newsletters to veteran groups to politicians, to influence anybody who would listen. As he put it: “I talked about nothing for 50 years other than that“.

Libman lobbied Congress, and finally convinced Representative Robert Wexler of Florida to introduce legislation calling for the Department of Defense to investigate. DoD examined awards to Jewish and Hispanic servicemen during WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam, to see whether prejudice prevented any who deserved a Medal of Honor from getting one. It took years, but the investigation concluded that, indeed, prejudice had deprived dozens of deserving veterans from a well-earned Medal of Honor.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.