Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Stopped a WWI German Raid

Dec 03 , 2025

Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Stopped a WWI German Raid

Blood. Noise. Shadows creeping through the trenches. Sgt. Henry Johnson stood alone, face bleeding, rifle clutched tight, as German raiders closed in. Around him, comrades lost to the raider’s fury. But he did not falter. Instead, he roared back—defending his post, buying time, and saving lives at a terrible cost to his own body and spirit. This was July 15, 1918, in the heart of the Argonne Forest. This was the moment a man became a legend.

The Rooted Warrior

Henry Johnson was born in 1892, in Albany, New York, a son of West Indies immigrants. Raised in Harlem’s rough streets, he inherited more than just blood from his ancestry. His faith and enduring grit shaped him. Baptized early, Henry carried scripture like armor—Psalm 23 vibrating in his chest, reminding him: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

He enlisted in the New York National Guard’s 15th Infantry Regiment—a Black unit later known as the “Harlem Hellfighters.” Despite facing institutional racism, Johnson’s honor code was simple: fight with courage, stand for your brothers, never break. A man not defined by skin, but by the scars earned on battlefields far from home.

The Battle That Defined Him

July 15th arrived like a nightmare. The 369th Regiment was stationed near the Meuse-Argonne sector. Darkness masked the forest, but the German raiding party moved with deadly intent—silently aiming to slaughter and sabotage. Johnson and fellow soldier Pvt. Needham Roberts were the only two awake on sentry duty.

Roberts was thrown into the brush; Johnson fought on with savage fury.

Wounded repeatedly—bayoneted, shot—he refused to quit. Using his rifle, fists, and a captured bolo knife, Johnson fought like a cornered wolf. Reports say he killed multiple German soldiers alone, stopping the raid dead in its tracks.

His actions saved his unit from annihilation. When help finally arrived hours later, Johnson was found slumped, muscles torn, his face battered and bloody. But he was alive—still breathing, still a warrior.¹

Beyond the Wounds: A Quiet Fury Recognized

Henry Johnson’s country did not immediately honor him. Racial barriers delayed recognition. But over decades, his valor could not be ignored. He received the Croix de Guerre from France—their highest combat award—personally decorated by General John J. Pershing.²

Recognition in America lagged, until 2015, when President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Johnson the Medal of Honor—making him the first African American soldier of WWI to receive the nation’s highest military decoration.³

His Medal of Honor citation states plainly:

“Through extraordinary heroism, Sgt. Henry Johnson successfully defended his command post against a raid by six German soldiers, killing multiple enemy combatants despite life-threatening wounds.”

Comrades remembered him not just as a fighter, but as a man who carried scars deeper than flesh—scars of discrimination, of battle, and of endurance.

Legacy Etched in Blood and Spirit

Johnson’s story is not just about heroism. It’s about refusing invisibility. A Black soldier fighting a white world and a brutal war simultaneously. His courage forged a path through darkness for generations after him: combat veterans wrestling with pain, identity, and purpose.

He teaches us: Valor doesn’t wait for permission. Sacrifice does not check your skin before calling your name.

Henry Johnson’s legacy pulses in the blood of every veteran who’s stood guard at night, in the cries of those wounded or forgotten, and in the unyielding faith that sustains men through hell’s grip.

His fight was not merely for survival—but for dignity, honor, and a place in history’s roar.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” — Psalm 27:1

Sgt. Henry Johnson’s valor reminds us that redemption rises from the blood-stained earth—a story wrestled from despair and made eternal. He stands with every warrior who endures, scars and all. The trenches may fade, but the fire he lit will burn forever.

Sources

1. National Archives, WWI Action Reports – 369th Infantry Regiment, July 1918 2. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Croix de Guerre Award Records 3. U.S. Department of Defense, 2015 Medal of Honor Ceremony - Sgt. Henry Johnson