William Henry Johnson fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds. Johnson enlisted in the United States Military on June 5, 1917, joining the all-black New York National Guard 15th Infantry Regiment. He was finally awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002, but in 2015 he was posthumously honored with the award.
About Henry Johnson (World War I soldier) in brief
William Henry Johnson fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds. Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a posthumous ceremony at the White House. Johnson enlisted in the United States Military on June 5, 1917, joining the all-black New York National Guard 15th Infantry Regiment. The 369th Infantry joined the 185th Infantry Brigade upon arrival in France, but the unit was relegated to labor service duties instead of combat training. In 1918, racism against African Americans was common among white U. S. soldiers in the U.S. military, but French attitudes differed. Johnson died, poor and in obscurity, in 1929, but his story has been part of wider consideration of treatment of African Americans in the Great War. He was finally awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002, but in 2015 he was posthumously honored with the award. He said that he was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on July 15, 1892, when he registered for the World War I draft, but he used other dates on other documents, so he may not have known the exact date of his birth.
He moved to Albany, New York,. when he was in his early teens and worked as a redcap porter at the Albany Union Station on Broadway. He later became famous as the “Harlem Hellfighters’”. He served in the 369th Regiment, which became the New York Infantry Regiment prior to engaging in combat in France. The regiment was one of the first African American regiments to arrive in France and was among the most highly decorated when it returned. It was led by Colonel William Hayward, who later became the commanding officer of the 9th Infantry Division, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He died in 1999, and was buried in a New York City suburb. He is survived by his wife and three children. He leaves behind a wife and a daughter. He also leaves behind two sons. He will be remembered as the first U. s. soldier to receive that honor in World war I and the first black soldier to do so in the American Army. He has a son, William, who served in Afghanistan and served in Iraq and the United Nations. He had a daughter, Jennifer, who is now a U.s. Army officer.
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This page is based on the article Henry Johnson (World War I soldier) published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 09, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
