Today President Obama confers our highest award for valor on three New Yorkers. These men — Staff Sgt. William Leonard of Lockport, Sgt. Alfred Nietzel of Queens and Pfc. Leonard Kravitz of Brooklyn — will receive their Medals of Honor posthumously.
They are among the 24 men from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War who will be so honored at the White House today. The list includes three living recipients who all fought in Vietnam.
In 2002, Congress authorized the military branches to examine the war records of Jewish or Hispanic soldiers deserving of this honor who were denied it due to ethnic bias. The review later expanded.
We do not have the space to give each recipient the account he deserves. But even the barest outlines tell the story.
On Nov. 7, 1944, in France, then-Pfc. Leonard led survivors of his platoon in an assault. Though shot in the neck and back, he took out two machine gun crews before capturing the German position.
On Nov. 8, 1944, in Germany, Sgt. Nietzel stopped the enemy from overrunning his unit. He selflessly covered members of his squad and held his post until he was killed.
On March 6, 1951, in Korea, Pfc. Kravitz (uncle of rocker Lenny Kravitz) refused orders to retreat. Instead, he covered his fellow soldiers with protective fire until he was felled by the Chinese Communists.
Medals are the way a nation recognizes valor. And they may be more important for the citizenry than for the recipients, because these ceremonies remind us to whom we owe the free air we breathe. We thank God for the blessing of men like these.