Henry Johnson's Courage with the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI

Nov 23 , 2025

Henry Johnson's Courage with the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI

Blood. Fear. Darkness.

A lone figure stands against a German raid deep in the Ardennes, his body racked with bullet wounds and bayonet slashes. Enemy fire tears through the night, but he fights—relentless, ferocious, unwilling to let his comrades fall. Sgt. Henry Johnson, Immortal Sentinel of Harlem Hellfighters.

The Roots of a Warrior

Henry Johnson was born in 1892, in the rural South where Jim Crow laws cast long shadows. A sharecropper’s son from North Carolina, he carried scars invisible to the eye—those of a nation divided by color and prejudice. When the U.S. plunged into World War I, segregation followed soldiers overseas. Yet Johnson volunteered for the 369th Infantry Regiment, better known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

He marched to battle carrying more than a rifle. He carried a fierce pride, a deep faith, and an iron will forged by hardship. Stories whisper he often read scripture, holding close Psalm 23 amid the mud and shellfire:

_“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”_

Faith was his shield even when armor failed.

The Battle That Defined Him

May 15, 1918—Orvalho Woods, France. Under cover of darkness, a German raiding party struck. Their goal: wipe out the Hellfighters, break Allied lines. Johnson and fellow soldier Private Needham Roberts were the frontline defense, outnumbered and outgunned.

Enemy grenades exploded. Bullets slammed into trees and flesh. Wounded early on, Johnson took cover behind a tree and fought with unmatched fury. He repelled the attackers with rifle fire and a bolo knife he wielded like an extension of his own rage and desperation.

Despite multiple wounds—bullet to the arms, bayonet gashes—Johnson guarded the rear flank alone for hours. When Roberts was hit, Johnson dragged him to safety, refusing to surrender or retreat even as blood soaked his uniform. His bayonet hand was slashed, and yet he carried on.

In that night’s chaos, Johnson is credited with killing or wounding at least four enemy soldiers, saving his unit from likely annihilation. His defense shattered the raid and gave his comrades the crucial edge to counterattack.[^1]

The Honors and the Pain

Recognition came slowly. The War Department awarded Johnson the Croix de Guerre with Palm from the French government—an honor rare for black soldiers then. But back home, Jim Crow America turned a blind eye.

Decades passed. His valor overshadowed by racial prejudice until the tide of history finally turned. In 2015, 97 years later, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Henry Johnson the Medal of Honor. The White House called him “an American hero.”

Sergeant Henry Johnson’s citation reads:

“For extraordinary heroism in action…1st Sgt. Johnson’s superb courage and daring repell[ed] the enemy attack.”[^2]

Fellow soldier Needham Roberts called him “the bravest man I ever knew,” a testament from a comrade who witnessed the blood and grit firsthand.

The Legacy of Steel and Spirit

Johnson’s story is carved into the bedrock of black military history and the fight for equality. It’s a shattering reminder of bravery that refused to bow to both the enemy’s bullets and America’s injustice.

His sacrifice transcends race, war, and time. It speaks to every soul who has carried the weight of battle and the scars that never heal. Courage, in his life, was the refusal to quit—even when silence overwhelmed.

_“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”_ — Joshua 1:9

Henry Johnson stood not just for his unit but for a promise. That valor whispered on blood-soaked fields echoes through generations of veterans.

May we never forget the cost, the fight, and the fire in a man who defied death and injustice to protect his brothers in arms.

[^1]: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters [^2]: U.S. Department of Defense, Medal of Honor Citation for Henry Johnson, 2015