Johnson, Sgt William Henry – Honored
By
John C Abercrombie
This is part of a series that speaks to thename changing of United States military bases. The bases having their names changed are bases named after Confederate Officers. We look at this move, starting with the officers themselves. They were commissioned officers of the United States and had sworn allegiance to the United States. Allegiance = the fidelity owed by a subject or citizen to a sovereign or government. These men had to denounce their allegiance to America, lay down arms they had from the United States and take off the uniform of the United States, then swear allegiance to a new country, the Confederate States of America. Put on a uniform that took up arms against the United States and fight their former country they had sworn to protect. Traitors, they were.
The base now honors Sgt. William Henry Johnson, whose actions on the front lines in France earned him the nickname Black Death during his lifetime and a posthumous Medal of Honor nearly a century later.
“The Warrior Spirit that burned with in Sgt. William Henry Johnson now inspires generations of Soldiers — Soldiers that will now call JRTC and Fort Johnson home and Soldiers that will continue to come here from all over the nation and the world to train,” said Brig. Gen. David Gardner, commanding general of Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson, in a Facebook post.
Johnson’s courage became the stuff of legend after the night of May 15, 1918, when he nearly single-handedly stopped German forces from approaching the main French line and taking his fellow soldier, Needham Roberts, prisoner in the process.
He maintained a fierce defense during the surprise attack, continuing to fight even after being injured by enemy fire and running out of ammunition. Johnson turned to hand-to-hand combat and his bolo knife, eventually killing four German troops and wounding between 10 and 20 others, according to the National Museum of the United States Army.
This has earned the nickname “The Battle of Henry Johnson”, he suffered twenty-one separate injuries and was noted as the first American hero of World War I by the United States Department of Defense.
“By the time what a reporter called ‘The Battle of Henry Johnson’ was over, Johnson had been wounded 21 times and had become the first American hero of World War I,” says the U.S. Department of Defense.
Johnson and his comrade Pvt. Needham Roberts became the first U.S. soldiers to receive the Croix du Guerre — France’s highest military honor — as a result of their actions, and later returned home as national heroes.
Johnson led the 369th victory parade through New York City in 1919, and former President Theodore Roosevelt called him “one of the five bravest American soldiers in the war.” Johnson was more modest in his own assessment. Saying “There wasn’t anything so fine about it,” he said later. “Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.”
Upon returning home Johnson was sent on a speaking tour and lauded for his courage. His image was even used to recruit soldiers and sell Victory Stamps.
But he was “shunted aside” after describing the unfair treatment of Black American soldiers, according to the National Guard. Here we see that the very people who could and should have changed the policy to reflect what they wanted were cowards when it came to matters that they had control of.
And, despite the public praise, the Army denied Johnson recognition for his actions in many keyways. Among them, it didn’t mention his debilitating injuries in his discharge records or grant him a disability allowance.
Johnson’s combat injuries and lack of education prevented him from holding a steady job and fully returning to civilian life in the years after the war. He was reportedly destitute when he died of myocarditis in his 30’s in 1929. We see disparate treatment between White and Black soldiers when we see so many Blacks discharged with 29% disability (no pension and White soldiers reaching this point and beyond). What a way of saying thank you for your service.
“Johnson’s meritorious service in the face [of] prejudice and discrimination contributed to the Allied victory in World War I,” the Army Museum says. “Yet, recognition for that service did not come quickly.”
The U.S. posthumously awarded him a Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002. Then-President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Medal of Honor in 2015, nearly 100 years after that dramatic night on the battlefield.
“We have work to do as a nation to make sure that all of our heroes’ stories are told,” Obama said during the ceremony. “The least we can do is to say, ‘We know who you are, we know what you did for us. We are forever grateful.'”
Johnson’s segregated unit made it to the front lines.
Johnson was born in Winston Salem, N.C., in 1892 and moved as a teenager to Albany, N.Y., where he held a series of jobs including chauffeur, soda mixer, laborer and train station porter.
Johnson — at 5’4″ and 130 pounds — enlisted in the Army in June 1917, just two months after the U.S. entered WWI.
He was assigned to Company C, 15th New York (Colored) Infantry Regiment, an all-Black unit of the New York National Guard. It was federalized, renamed the 369th Infantry Regiment — also known as the Harlem Hellfighters — and deployed to Europe. The unit was all volunteer and should have been numbered 200 or lower, however it was more important to the Army to avoid any Black and White soldiers to fight together and therefore named them the 369th.
And while the segregated U.S. Army relegated Black soldiers to manual labor and other non-combat roles, the French Army was willing to work with them as infantrymen. Many Whites gained skills that allowed them to upgrade after the war, this was not the practice with Blacks.
The 369th Regiment ended up integrating with the French 161st Division and deploying to a position near the Argonne Forest in northeastern France. Those first few weeks on the frontlines were relatively uneventful — until the night of May 15.
Johnson and Roberts were on night patrol when they heard the sound of gunshots and wire cutters, alerting them to the presence of at least a dozen German soldiers preparing for a surprise raid.
Johnson stalled the Germans by throwing grenades until he ran out. They returned fire, badly injuring Roberts.
Johnson then picked up his French rifle, which carried only three cartridges. Arthur Little, the 1st Battalion commander, described the scene in his 1936 book From Harlem to the Rhine.
“Johnson fired his three shots — the last one almost muzzle-to-breast of the German bearing down upon him,” he wrote. “As the German fell, a comrade jumped over his body, pistol in hand, to avenge his death. There was no time for reloading. Johnson swung his rifle round his head and brought it down with a thrown blow upon the head of the German. The German went down, crying.”
That’s when Johnson noticed some of the soldiers lifting Roberts up, presumably to take him back over enemy lines. He drew his bolo knife, the last of his weapons, and charged at the German soldiers even as they kept shooting at him.
“He killed one German with rifle fire, knocked one down with clubbed rifle, killed two with bolo, killed one with grenade, and, it is believed, wounded others,” read the New York National Guard annual report of 1920.
Johnson’s “frantic attacks broke the German morale and the enemy raiding party retreated,” the Army Museum says. He is credited with holding the Germans back from the French line and saving Roberts from capture.
Johnson “displayed the most profound battlefield bravery in World War I, yet for almost a century the nation for which he was willing to give his life shamefully failed to recognize his heroics,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a longtime advocate of the renaming, said in a Wednesday statement.
Tuesday’s change, he added, ensures that Johnson’s legacy will endure.
The Harlem Hellfighters made many contributions to the war.
Johnson and Roberts’ efforts also boosted the “vigilance and confidence” of the 369th regiment itself.
The honors they received were the first of many for the Harlem Hellfighters, who spent over 191 days in the front-line trenches (more time in continuous combat than any other American unit of its size) and suffered more than 1,400 casualties (more losses than any other American regiment). These accomplishments should be held high.
And, in a major non-combat contribution, the infantry’s band is credited with introducing jazz music to European audiences. It is reported that a riot almost erupted in Spartanburg when a soldier of the band allegedly walked into a building to buy a newspaper without taking his hat off.
After the war, France awarded the Croix de Guerre medal to 171 members of the regiment, as well as a Croix de Guerre citation to the unit as a whole. Their heroism was recognized in the U.S. at the end of the war, too — even though they were largely forgotten in the decades after it.
“The Harlem Hellfighters were the first New York combat unit to return home, and the regiment, which had been denied a place in the farewell parade the prior year, was rewarded with a victory parade,” according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
That’s the parade that Johnson led. He rode in a convertible instead of marching, due to the metal plate in his foot.
Newspapers reported at the time that he was so moved he stood up, clutching lilies from admirers and bowing to the crowds that were chanting his name — a name that will likely mean something to many more people after this week.
Henry Johnson p2
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The Black Death – WWI Soldier Unleashes Killer Instinct
The Black Death, Henry Johnson fought like a man possessed as him and another wounded soldier were surrounded by Germans, but somehow the Black Death fought them off and became a war hero! Check out today’s new military video were we look a a group of Black American soldiers allied with the French during World War II, and how on one night, when surrender seemed inevitable, Henry Johnson stood tall and fought for his survival and will go down in the history books as a Medal of Honor recipient and total badass
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The Harlem Hellfighters
From bestselling author Max Brooks, the riveting story of the highly decorated, barrier-breaking, historic black regiment—the Harlem Hellfighters
In 1919, the 369th infantry regiment marched home triumphantly from World War I. They had spent more time in combat than any other American unit, never losing a foot of ground to the enemy, or a man to capture, and winning countless decorations. Though they returned as heroes, this African American unit faced tremendous discrimination, even from their own government. The Harlem Hellfighters, as the Germans called them, fought courageously on—and off—the battlefield to make Europe, and America, safe for democracy.
In THE HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS, bestselling author Max Brooks and acclaimed illustrator Caanan White bring this history to life. From the enlistment lines in Harlem to the training camp at Spartanburg, South Carolina, to the trenches in France, they tell the heroic story of the 369th in an action-packed and powerful tale of honor and heart.
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He FOUGHT 24 German Soldiers by Himself (The Life of Henry Johnson) #onemichistory
An explanation of the life and legend of Henry “Black Death” Johnson
Henry Johnson while on watch in the Argonne Forest in France on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier Private Needham Roberts while experiencing 21 wounds himself
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Book
Sample this book with the link below.
Harlem’s Hell Fighters: The African American 369th Infantry in World War I
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, thousands of African American men volunteered to fight for a country that granted them only limited civil rights. Many from New York City joined the 15th N.Y. Infantry, a National Guard regiment later designated the 369th U.S. Infantry. Led by mostly inexperienced white and black officers, these men not only received little instruction at their training camp in South Carolina but were frequent victims of racial harassment from both civilians and their white comrades. Once in France, they initially served as laborers, all while chafing to prove their worth as American soldiers.
Then they got their chance. The 369th became one of the few U.S. units that American commanding general John J. Pershing agreed to let serve under French command. Donning French uniforms and taking up French rifles, the men of the 369th fought valiantly alongside French Moroccans and held one of the widest sectors on the Western Front. The entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the French government’s highest military honor. Stephen L. Harris’s accounts of the valor of a number of individual soldiers make for exciting reading, especially that of Henry Johnson, who defended himself against an entire German squad with a large knife. After reading this book, you will know why the Germans feared the black men of the 369th and why the French called them “hell fighters.”
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Shining new light on the contributions of the Harlem Hellfighters
It’s been 100 years since the end of World War I. The armistice signed in 1918 was supposed to bring the world together, but a group of American soldiers who were fighting for freedom and democracy had yet to experience those ideals in their own country. Michelle Miller reports.
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The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage
New York Times best-selling author Walter Dean Myers and renowned filmmaker Bill Miles deftly tell the true story of the unsung American heroes of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I in The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage.
At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment put their lives on the line in the name of democracy. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage is a portrait of bravery and honor.
©2019 Walter Dean Myers (P)2018 Recorded Books
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A Tale of Courage & Bravery
: Celebrating the Legacy of SGT Henry Johnson
SGT Henry Johnson – a World War I hero and one of the first American soldiers to receive the prestigious Croix de Guerre award. His remarkable story of courage and bravery continues to inspire us all – watch this moving tribute to learn more about his legacy and how it shaped our nation.
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Harlem Hellfighters
“Lewis’s poetics are perfectly complemented by Kelley’s evocative pastel illustrations, which both inspire and unsettle.” –New York Times
They went by many names, but the world came to know them best as the Harlem Hellfighters. Two thousand strong, these black Americans from New York picked up brass instruments—under the leadership of famed bandleader and lieutenant James Reese Europe—to take the musical sound of Harlem into the heart of war. From the creators of the 2012 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book, And the Soldiers Sang, this remarkable narrative nonfiction rendering of WWI — and American — history uses free-verse poetry and captivating art to tell century-old story of hellish combat, racist times, rare courage, and inspired music.
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Sgt. Henry Johnson Medal of Honor Recipient – Arlington National Cemetery
Former President Theodore Roosevelt called him “one of the five bravest American soldiers in the war”. Almost a century after his service, Sgt. Henry Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor. As Tim Frank, ANC Historian, explains, there are more than 400 Medal of Honor recipients at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Action speaks louder than words and we have just read about a man of Action. A man who should be praised rather than having a small monument “hidden” in plain sight. This man who has continued to earn respect of an entire country. It is time for ACTION!