Sgt Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter and Medal of Honor Recipient

Nov 24 , 2025

Sgt Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter and Medal of Honor Recipient

Sgt. Henry Johnson stood alone in the freezing night, blood pounding in his ears, while shadows swarmed across the wire. His rifle emptied. His fists bled. Yet still, he fought—feral, unyielding, a shield for the ragged survivors behind him. The enemy pressed. Death whispered close. But Johnson would not break.

Background & Faith: From Harlem to Hellfire

Born in the teeming streets of North Carolina in 1892, Henry Johnson carried the weight of more than just the war on his shoulders. He grew up poor, Black in a white world that had already declared him less. Harlem years later gave him both refuge and grit, where his faith deepened—not just in God, but in the warrior’s code burned into his soul.

He enlisted in 1917, joining the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment, the “Harlem Hellfighters.” Their orders weren’t just to fight but to prove something impossible in a world shackled by hate. Johnson embodied this quiet bravery, grounded in scripture and an unbreakable will.

“I will say to the Lord, You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” — Psalm 91:2

The Battle That Defined Him: The Night of June 15, 1918

That night near the French farmhouse at Argonne Forest wasn’t chance. It was hell, staged. German raiders slipped through the trenches, a ravenous pack set to annihilate the 369th’s rear.

Johnson woke to the snapping of wire—alarm bells in his mind. Alone with Pvt. Needham Roberts, his comrade, Johnson bore the brunt of the assault. German soldiers swarmed him; grenades exploded. His left arm shattered, bayonet pierces. The agony didn’t stop him.

With a rifle useless, he fought hand-to-hand—a ferocious battle in mud and blood, wielding a bolo knife, stomping, punching, dragging the wounded to safety. His grace under fire carved a path through the enemy, buying precious time for his unit to regroup.

When dawn broke, the Germans lay dead or scattered. Johnson’s body was a map of wounds. Yet the line held. By his courage and sheer force of will, dozens lived—and the raid failed.

Recognition: A Long-Delayed Honor

Johnson returned from the war to a country still chained by Jim Crow. Despite receiving the French Croix de Guerre with Palms—awarded for extraordinary valor—his own government ignored his heroics, lost in a sea of racial prejudice.

It took nearly a century for the truth to pierce silence. In 2015, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Sgt. Henry Johnson the Medal of Honor. His citation read:

“Through his extraordinary heroism, Sgt. Johnson inspired those who witnessed it.”[^1]

Fellow soldiers remembered him as “the bravest man I ever knew” (Needham Roberts, Medal of Honor recipient himself). His story stood not just as a tale of war, but as a monument to resilience against racism and war’s darkest shadows.

Legacy & Lessons: Courage Beyond the Battlefield

Henry Johnson’s fight was not just against an enemy in trench lines; it was against the dehumanization that followed him home. He showed that courage is not won in moments of glory alone but forged in injustice and pain.

His scars, visible and invisible, remind us of the cost veterans carry—those who defend a land that often refuses to defend them.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” — Joshua 1:9

Johnson’s legacy calls every soldier and citizen: to fight with honor, to bear witness to truth, and to embrace redemption even through suffering. His story teaches that valor breathes in men’s hearts long after guns fall silent and victory is counted. It’s a blood-stained testament that sometimes the greatest wars are fought on home soil.

“He stood when others fell. He gave everything so others could live. That is the true measure of a warrior.”

Sgt. Henry Johnson endures. Not just a hero of the Great War, but a beacon for those who bear the scars of battle—seen and unseen.

[^1]: National Archives and Records Administration, Medal of Honor Citation for Sgt. Henry Johnson. [Harlem Hellfighters: The African American 369th Infantry in World War I](https://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/hispam/369infantry.html) – U.S. Army Center of Military History.