Feb 05 , 2026

Sgt Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Awarded the Medal of Honor

Sgt. Henry Johnson knew the smell of death before dawn. That humid New Jersey air, thick with sweat and fear. A lone shadow in the shattered woods of the Argonne, standing guard when a German raiding party crept through the night like ghosts hunting men. This was the moment he became more than a soldier—he became a reckoning.

---

Blood and Backbone: The Man Behind the Medal

Born in 1892, in North Carolina, Henry Johnson carried the weight of Jim Crow on his back. He left home for Albany, New York, where hard work and faith forged his resolve. Johnson was a man who knew the grind—meatpacker by trade, soldier by calling.

His faith was quiet but unshakable. Raised in the Baptist church, he lived by a code that put honor and bravery above fear. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That scripture was the marrow in his bones—comfort when the guns roared louder than any preacher’s voice.

When America threw its lot into the Great War, Johnson volunteered for the 369th Infantry Regiment—the “Harlem Hellfighters.” They fought as one unit, Black soldiers in a white man’s war, often denied the respect due heroes. But Henry would carve his name into history, not with words, but with blood.

---

The Battle That Defined Him

May 15, 1918. The Argonne Forest. Darkness swallowed the trenches. Johnson and his comrade Needham Roberts, manning a forward listening post, spotted the enemy creeping closer—a full raiding party, dozens strong, armed and ready to kill.

They were vastly outnumbered.

The firefight cracked the night open. Johnson charged through the trees, wielding a rifle, a pistol, and even a bolo knife in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Despite receiving multiple wounds—bayonet slashes, bullet holes—he fought relentlessly.

“I need you to believe me—Henry Johnson never faltered once. He was a lion.” – Corporal Needham Roberts, wounded alongside Johnson[^1]

His actions saved his platoon from annihilation. He killed or wounded nearly two dozen enemy soldiers, stopping their advance and sounding the alarm to his company. The battle took years off his life but earned him immortality.

---

The Legion of Honor and the Long Road to Recognition

France saw his valor immediately. The French government awarded Henry Johnson the Croix de Guerre with a special citation and palm—the first African American to receive such honor in WWI[^2]. But back home, due to racial prejudice, his heroism went largely unrecognized.

Decades passed before the U.S. government corrected its oversight. In 1996, the Army finally awarded Henry Johnson the Distinguished Service Cross. Then, in 2015—almost a century later—President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously[^3].

“The story of Henry Johnson is a testament that courage knows no color.” – President Barack Obama, Medal of Honor ceremony, 2015

Johnson’s scars were etched into his flesh; his legacy into our soul.

---

Lessons Etched in Scars and Valor

Henry Johnson’s battle was not just against a German raid but against the prejudice that tried to erase his bravery. He carried the scars of war and the wounds of a divided homeland.

His fight reminds us of sacrifice beyond the battlefield—the fight for dignity, for recognition, for truth. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Johnson lived it. He gave more than life; he gave courage to a generation that would rise, step by step.

His story bleeds into the black and white photos of history, demanding we reckon with both the horror of combat and the sin of injustice.

---

Sgt. Henry Johnson stands as a sentinel for all who wear the wounds of war and wait for their stories to be told. His legacy is a battle cry: that valor, honor, and faith are immortal—even when the world forgets.

---

[^1]: Communication from Needham Roberts, as cited in Chad Williams, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2010).

[^2]: French Ministry of War, 1918, Archives of the Croix de Guerre recipients.

[^3]: The White House, President Barack Obama’s Medal of Honor Presentation to Sgt. Henry Johnson, 2015.

---

Older Post Newer Post

---