Henry Johnson

What kind of courage keeps a man fighting after he has been shot, wounded repeatedly, surrounded by enemy soldiers, and left with little more than a knife? For Sergeant Henry Johnson of the 369th Infantry Regiment, that question was answered in the darkness of a French battlefield on May 15, 1918. Wounded again and again, Johnson refused to surrender his position, refused to abandon a fellow soldier, and refused to let a German raiding party take an American prisoner. Nearly a century would pass before the United States fully recognized what he had done.

Born William Henry Johnson on July 15, 1892, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Johnson moved to New York while still young. Before the First World War, his life was far removed from military fame. He worked at various jobs, including as a chauffeur, laborer, soda mixer, and redcap porter at Albany's Union Station. On June 5, 1917, only weeks after the United States entered World War I, Johnson enlisted in Company C of the 15th New York Colored Infantry Regiment, an African American National Guard organization that was later redesignated the 369th Infantry Regiment.

The 369th would become famous as the Harlem Hellfighters, but its soldiers first had to confront the racial segregation of the American military. After reaching France, the regiment was eventually placed under French command and equipped for front-line combat. The French Army was willing to use the Black American regiment as fighting troops, and the 369th entered the trenches of the Champagne region in 1918. There, Henry Johnson's name would become inseparable from one of the most remarkable small-unit actions of the war.

In the early hours of May 15, 1918, Johnson and fellow soldier Private Needham Roberts were manning an isolated forward outpost when a German raiding party attacked. The official Medal of Honor record describes a force of at least twelve enemy soldiers, while other historical accounts place the number considerably higher. Both men were wounded. Roberts was eventually so badly injured that German soldiers attempted to carry him away as a prisoner. Johnson continued fighting.

He fought first with grenades and his rifle. When his ammunition was exhausted and his rifle could no longer serve him effectively, Johnson used it as a club. When that was no longer enough, he drew his bolo knife.

Then came the moment that defined Henry Johnson's military career.

Seeing German soldiers attempting to take Roberts prisoner, Johnson left the relative protection of his position and attacked them at close quarters. Already seriously wounded, he fought hand to hand, using his knife to drive the attackers away and save Roberts from capture. Johnson continued resisting until the German raiding party finally withdrew. The National Park Service records that he suffered 21 wounds during the action and estimates that he killed four German soldiers and wounded between ten and twenty others.

France recognized his courage almost immediately. Johnson received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme, making him one of the first Americans to receive the French decoration for valor during World War I. The French orders of May 16 praised Johnson for having "gave a magnificent example of courage and energy." It was an unusually direct tribute to a soldier whose actions needed little embellishment.

The United States took far longer.

Johnson returned home with the 369th Infantry in February 1919. During the regiment's celebrated victory parade through New York City, he rode near the front of the procession as enormous crowds welcomed the Harlem Hellfighters home. His photograph and reputation had already made him a symbol of Black American military courage. Yet the acclaim did not erase the consequences of his wounds or the discrimination he faced. His injuries made civilian work increasingly difficult, and his original discharge paperwork failed even to record the wounds and heroism that had transformed him into a wartime celebrity.

The recognition that should have followed his battlefield heroism instead arrived decades after his death.

In 1996, Henry Johnson was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, formally recognizing the combat wounds he had suffered in France. In 2002, the United States Army awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest decoration for valor. That decision was important, but the historical review of Johnson's actions did not end there.

On June 2, 2015, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Sergeant Henry Johnson the Medal of Honor, upgrading the recognition previously represented by his Distinguished Service Cross. The Medal of Honor citation describes Johnson's conduct as acts of gallantry performed "above and beyond the call of duty" and emphasizes that, despite being gravely wounded, he advanced against enemy soldiers, rescued his wounded comrade, and continued fighting until the German force retreated. Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard accepted the Medal of Honor on Johnson's behalf at the White House.

The official citation captures the heart of Johnson's action. He did not merely defend himself. He deliberately exposed himself to greater danger to prevent Needham Roberts from being captured, fought enemy soldiers at close quarters while wounded, and remained in the fight until the threat had passed. The Army concluded that his actions reflected "extraordinary heroism and selflessness" and brought great credit upon Johnson, Company C, the 369th Infantry Regiment, and the United States Army.

Johnson's story is also inseparable from the larger history of the 369th Infantry Regiment and the Harlem Hellfighters. These Black American soldiers served with distinction in France while representing a country whose military remained segregated. Their battlefield record challenged the prejudices that had restricted their opportunities in the first place. Johnson became one of the clearest examples of that contradiction: celebrated by France for extraordinary battlefield courage, yet denied equivalent American recognition during his lifetime.

Henry Johnson died on July 1, 1929, only 36 years old. He was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 25, Site 64. For decades, the full significance of his service remained inadequately recognized. Today, his grave belongs to a Medal of Honor recipient, and his name stands permanently among the most celebrated American soldiers of World War I.

What survived Henry Johnson was more than the story of a desperate fight in the Argonne Forest. It was the example of a soldier who continued fighting when almost every advantage had disappeared. His Croix de Guerre avec Palme, Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, and ultimately the Medal of Honor trace the long journey by which his courage was first recognized by France and finally given the highest recognition of the United States.

Nearly a century after the night that made him famous, the official record finally caught up with the battlefield.

Sergeant Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter and Medal of Honor recipient, had already earned his place in history on May 15, 1918. It simply took the nation far too long to formally acknowledge it.