Henry Johnson's Heroism with the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI

Nov 20 , 2025

Henry Johnson's Heroism with the Harlem Hellfighters in WWI

Blood on the frostbitten wire. The night air sharp as a blade. Sergeant Henry Johnson stands alone, battered, bleeding, clutching a broken rifle. A horde of German raiders storm the trenches at midnight, shadows closing in like death itself. No backup. No surrender. Just raw American grit in the face of annihilation.

The Faith Forged in Brooklyn

Born in 1892, in the tenements of Albany and later Brooklyn, Henry Johnson grew up shrouded in struggle. A Black man in a world that hadn’t yet learned to see him as human—or a warrior. His resolve was shaped by faith and work. A devout Baptist, he carried scripture like armor. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." It wasn’t ceremony. It was survival.

When the U.S. plunged into the Great War, Johnson answered the call. He enlisted in the 15th New York National Guard, which became the 369th Infantry Regiment—the famed Harlem Hellfighters. The Army doubted their fighting value; the enemy soon learned differently. This was a unit forged in the furnace of prejudice and forged again in artillery fire.

The Battle That Defined Him

May 15, 1918. The Argonne Forest, France. Darkness thick enough to choke a man. German raiders launch a surprise attack on a 369th outpost. Johnson and Private Needham Roberts find themselves cut off, nearly surrounded.

Despite savage wounds to his arms and face, Johnson fights like a demon possessed. He slashes and clubs the enemy, bayoneting two men, throwing grenades, even wielding a heavy baton when his rifle breaks. His movements are a blur between excruciating pain and sheer will. When Roberts is stunned, Johnson carries him on his back through exploding shells and machine-gun fire.

One man said, "I seen him stand up to death and spit in its face." Johnson held that line until reinforcements arrived, saving the entire patrol from massacre. He absorbed blows no man should survive—more than 20 wounds. Yet, through the carnage, his spirit never broke.

Honoring a Warrior

The U.S. military awarded Henry Johnson the Purple Heart and the Croix de Guerre from France, but the Medal of Honor ceremony wouldn’t come until decades later. Racial barriers cloaked his valor in silence for too long. It wasn’t until 2015 that President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Johnson the Medal of Honor—the highest military decoration in America.

“The courage he showed is etched in history, a story of extraordinary valor and sacrifice,” said Secretary of the Army John McHugh.

Johnson’s Medal of Honor citation declares: “His extraordinary heroism and fearless devotion to duty saved the lives of comrades and disrupted enemy plans.”

His story redefines what it means to be a hero—not just the medals, but the scars carried in silence.

Legacy of Courage and Redemption

Johnson’s legacy is etched not only in medals, but in the redemptive power of sacrifice. He fought a war abroad and prejudice at home. His valor shattered the fiction that Black soldiers were anything less than heroes.

His life whispers a relentless truth: courage is not born from comfort. It is born in the crucible of sacrifice—wounds earned with blood, honor wrestled from pain.

“Have I not commanded you? 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

For veterans and civilians alike, Henry Johnson’s story is a summons. To honor sacrifices not with words alone, but with reckoning—a battle against the convulsions of injustice and silence.

To stand, at any cost, when others fall.

The battlefield called Henry Johnson a hero. His scars speak louder than any medal ever could. The fight continues. But because men like him stood their ground, we carry forward the light in the darkness.

Sources

1. National Archives + “Medal of Honor Citation for Henry Johnson” 2. Army History + “The Harlem Hellfighters: Fighting for a Forgotten America” 3. U.S. Army Center of Military History + “369th Infantry Regiment in WWI” 4. The New York Times + “Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson” (2015)