Law School student Andrew D. Gillman ’97-’99 said he was impressed by the two men’s stories.
“The service has come a long way,” said Gillman, an Air Force captain. “It impressed me that [Heilbrun and Leahr] have made such a concerted effort to overcome racial barriers.”
Leahr and Heilbrun were invited to Harvard by the Harvard Foundation.
Harvard Foundation Director S. Allen Counter said that the guests fit with the group’s mission to promote interracial understanding.
Leahr concluded his luncheon remarks by stating that race relations still need to be improved in the United States. “We’re going backwards on this problem. The biggest thing that the greatest generation didn’t accomplish was making all citizens citizens. Harvard is making that change but we need to do that all over the nation,” Leahr said.