WASHINGTON — President Obama honored 24 military heroes whose valor dating back more than half a century was never fully recognized — including Brooklyn native Leonard M. Kravitz, uncle of rock star Lenny Kravitz.
“Today, we have the chance to set the record straight,” Obama told an emotional crowd of family and friends of those receiving the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration.
Only three of the honorees, all Vietnam War veterans, are still living: Melvin Morris of Cocoa, Fla., and two San Antonio natives, Santiago Erevia and José Rodela.
Obama made special reference to the younger Kravitz, who was in the audience and was singled out as “a kid from New York who grew up to become one of the great rock stars of all time.”
Obama awarded the medals after a lengthy Pentagon review meant to find service members from World War II, and the wars in Korea and Vietnam whose exploits were overlooked because of prejudice.
Lenny Kravitz was named for his uncle, who died in 1951 as a private first class in Korea fending off a ferocious assault on his machine gun position near the Chinese border.
After the enemy launched a “fanatical . . . charge with heavy supporting fire” and a machine gunner was wounded, Kravitz “immediately seized the weapon and poured devastating fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants.”
He killed an entire hostile group using deadly, accurate fire, but was found dead “behind the gun he had honorably manned,” according to his citation. He was 20 years old.
Laurie Wenger, who is Lenny Kravitz’s older half sister, accepted the award on her uncle’s behalf, choking back tears as Obama handed her the medal. The president leaned forward to give her a kiss on the cheek.
Also in the audience was Mitch Libman, a childhood Brooklyn friend of the elder Kravitz, who spent years lobbying so that his pal’s heroics would be recognized.
“He was a wonderful guy . . . Thank God things worked out all right and he got everything that he deserved,” Libman told The Post. “He refused to leave his machine gun. He knew if he left his machine gun they would all be killed.”
Sgt. Alfred Nietzel, from Queens, was posthumously honored for his courageous actions leading an infantry company in combat in Heistern, Germany, during World War II.
Sgt. William F. Leonard, from upstate Niagara County, was posthumously honored for his heroism as a squad leader in combat in France in 1944.
Additional reporting by S.A. Miller