Short biography of sergeant henry johnson

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Johnson threw grenades at the attacking enemy and they returned fire. However, the United States refused to recognize Johnson’s extraordinary actions. He was a great American hero and received the highest military honor of two different countries. More than 500 men of the 369th had earned the Croix du Guerre since Johnson and Roberts and furthermore became one of the most decorated U.S.

regiments to serve in WWI. They garnered the nickname the “Harlem Hellfighters.” But despite this, the parade Johnson led was for black servicemen only since they weren’t allowed to participate in the main victory parade.

To add further insult to Johnson’s injuries, no mention of his battle wounds was made in his discharge papers.

One of those countries, however, his very own, didn’t bestow that medal until nearly 100 years after his service in WWI.

The honor this man deserved was not awarded by the U.S. government upon his return home, because he was black. Overwhelmed by his ferocity and with the sound of French and American troops running towards the skirmish, the Germans ran back into the night.

As the reinforcements arrived, Johnson collapsed.

Johnson opened a grenade box and ordered Roberts to run back and warn their French allies. One German tried to tackle him by jumping on his back but instead was stopped by Johnson’s blade between his ribs. The officers also distrusted them, harassed them, and issued disparaging remarks and pamphlets to French military and civilians about their black Soldiers.

Thus, black regiments were very poorly trained and most often assigned to menial labor like carrying supplies and digging ditches and latrines.

The French, however, didn’t nearly conform to the U.S.

military’s blind prejudice. They sent the 369th to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, in the Champagne region of France.

Henry Johnson’s Heroic Fight in the Argonne

Outfitted in French military garb, Johnson and another private, Needham Roberts of New Jersey, were serving sentry duty on the night of May 4, 1918, when German snipers began firing on them.

They performed manual labor, such as unloading supplies from ships and digging latrines. He became one of America’s heroes in World War I when word of his feat was publicized in the United States. Henry Johnson and Pvt. Needham Roberts during World War I. The lithograph quotes Gen. Pershing, who praises the two African American sentries, who "continued fighting after receiving wounds and despite the use of grenades by a superior force." (Image courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archives)

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