Sgt. Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Oct 02 , 2025

Sgt. Henry Johnson, Harlem Hellfighter Who Earned the Medal of Honor

Blood and mud. Shadows of death creeping in the cold French night.

Sgt. Henry Johnson stood alone against a German raiding party—his hands bloody, a rifle cracking like thunder, every breath a battle for life. He refused to fall, even as bullets and bayonets tore into his flesh. He saved his unit by fighting through hell itself.

From Albemarle to the Trenches: Born to Fight, Bound by Faith

Henry Johnson wasn’t born to glory. A son of Albany, New York, raised in dirt and dignity, a Black man molded in a world that fought him long before the war. Life was a rough classroom, but he carried honor like armor—no man beneath another in the eyes of the Almighty.

His faith wasn’t just Sunday church talk. It was grit, grace, and a warrior’s resolve. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,” the Scripture he lived by (2 Timothy 4:7).

When the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, was mustered, Johnson joined. The Army was segregated, Jim Crow’s shadow followed him even in uniform. Still, he marched forward—because battlefield Brotherhood knew no color.

The Battle of Bois de Belleau: A Night Etched in Fire

May 15, 1918. A German raiding party, sixty strong, slipped quietly into the trenches near the Bois de Belleau.

Johnson’s post was overrun; on his flank lay his friend, soldier Needham Roberts, wounded and helpless. Against a flood of enemy soldiers, Sgt. Johnson did not flee.

With one hand, he held his wounded buddy. With the other, he fumbled his rifle, then a pistol, driving back attacker after attacker. His bayonet found throats in the dark. Wounds piled on him like stakes in a coffin — shattered jaws, broken arms, slashes across his body. Yet he fought on.

Hours blurred in combat. When the dawn came, the German raiders were dead or retreating. Johnson was still alive. His actions saved his company, prevented the enemy from taking the line.

“No one else, white or black, did what Henry Johnson did that night,” recalled Roosevelt veterans. His bravery echoed across the trenches.

Honors in the Fog of War: Recognizing a Hero, Finally

Despite the magnitude of his heroism, Johnson’s valor was long overshadowed by racial prejudice. But the French awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm, presented by Marshal Philippe Pétain—their highest honor for heroism under fire.

Yet, back home, the U.S. Army locked his story in silence for decades. Decades passed until 2002, when Sgt. Henry Johnson was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross.

And in 2015, almost a century later, President Barack Obama finally presented the Medal of Honor to Johnson’s family. The highest U.S. military decoration, long overdue.

“When he was fighting, he was fighting for his country, his comrades, and his family. And now, America was finally recognizing that.” — Charles Johnson, Sgt. Henry Johnson’s son, during the ceremony[1]

His story finally set right, a reminder that valor is colorblind, but history too often is not.

Legacy of Sacrifice: Courage Beyond the Battlefield

Sgt. Henry Johnson fought not just for victory, but for dignity—his own and his race’s. His wounds never fully healed, his life scarred beyond the grave.

His legacy is impossible to separate from the struggle for equality. A Black soldier fighting white supremacy both in battle and society—a man who made the ultimate sacrifice without expectation of glory.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

Johnson’s life challenges all who wear the uniform or recount history. Courage is costly. Sacrifice is bitter. But redemption comes to those who endure, who fight with faith and purpose beyond themselves.

His story is a blood-stained testament to the truth: heroes are made in the crucible of combat—and sometimes, it takes a lifetime for the world to see them.

Sources

[1] Smithsonian Institution + Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters exhibit (2015) [2] U.S. Army Center of Military History + World War I Medal of Honor Recipients [3] Harlem Hellfighters Historical Society + The History of the 369th Infantry Regiment