Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Jan 07 , 2026

Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Blood and lightning tore through the night. The night air thick with death, bursting bullets singing a savage hymn. Sergeant Henry Johnson stood alone—wounded and weaponless—face to face with a swarming German raiding party. But he did not falter. Not once. No retreat. No surrender. Only fight. And fight he did. With his fists. His knife. His raw, unyielding will. He was hell incarnate on that frozen, muddy battlefield.

From the Streets to the Trenches

Born in 1892 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Henry Johnson was raised by a mother who taught him faith and fortitude amidst the grinding injustice of Jim Crow America. Moving to Albany, New York, he embraced a Christian ethos — grounded in resilience, honor, and the fierce protection of those who cannot defend themselves.

He joined the 15th New York National Guard, the all-black unit later designated the 369th Infantry, famously known as the Harlem Hellfighters. They bore the double burden: fighting a foreign enemy abroad, and the suffocating racism at home. But Johnson's heart was a battlefield far greater than any trench. His faith was his sword and shield. “I am more afraid of God than I am of any man,” he once said. This inner strength fueled him through the horrors that awaited in France.

The Meuse-Argonne Night That Made Him Immortal

May 15, 1918. Near the village of Épinglé-sur-Douaumont, deep in the German lines, Johnson and Private Needham Roberts were outpost sentries on patrol.

The Germans attacked, a brutal raiding party of 24 men intent on wiping out the Hellfighters and plundering their camp. Suddenly outnumbered and caught off guard, Johnson’s rifle jammed early in the fight.

What followed was raw survival and savage combat. Johnson wielded a bolo knife with ferocity unmatched, fighting through gunshots, bayonet stabs, and grenade explosions, even after taking grave wounds in his back and head.

He killed multiple enemies, protected Roberts—even while Roberts himself was badly wounded—until reinforcements arrived hours later. Johnson saved his entire company from annihilation that night.

Honors in the Shadow of Prejudice

Despite the magnitude of his heroism, Johnson returned to a country still shackled by segregation. For decades, his bravery went largely unrecognized by the U.S. military.

Only the French awarded him the Croix de Guerre with a special bronze palm, praising his “remarkable valor and devotion exhibited in the face of the enemy.”¹

It was not until 2015—nearly 100 years after that deadly night—that Henry Johnson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by the United States Army, breaking the long silence.

“Henry Johnson is a towering figure in American military history,” said Secretary of the Army John McHugh at the ceremony. “His selfless actions transcend the prejudices of his time.”²

A Legacy Woven in Blood and Redemption

Henry Johnson’s story is more than a chronicle of war. It's the crucible of sacrifice and redemption writ large. His scars tell tales of courage and unyielding spirit.

He teaches that heroism is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it. That honor lasts longer than medals. That the fight for dignity is as fierce as any fight in the trenches.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) Henry Johnson kept the faith—in God, in his brothers-in-arms, and in a better world yet to come.

Henry Johnson stands today not just as a decorated soldier, but as a beacon for every warrior wounded by injustice—reminding us all that valor and redemption rise from the darkest battles.

Sources

1. Croix de Guerre citation, French Ministry of Defense. 2. John McHugh, Secretary of the Army, Medal of Honor ceremony, June 2, 2015, U.S. Army archives.