ceremony Ultimately Johnson and Roberts entire unit 171 officers and men were awarded the Croix de Guerre for their 191 days of continuous service on the war front a record for US forces in World War I THE FIFTEENTH NEW YORK NATIONAL GUARD Johnson and Roberts were two of the nearly 380 000 African Americans who served in World War I They were part of an all black unit made up of men primarily from New York particularly Harlem The unit was created as the Fifteenth New York National Guard and renamed the 369th US Infantry when it joined with the French Fourth Army to fight in France But the unit's Johnson proudly wears his Croix de Guerre
HENRY JOHNSON 1897 1929 Nicknamed Black Death Henry Lincoln Johnson was born in 1897 in Alexandria Virginia Johnson left home as a teenager ultimately getting a job as a porter at Union Station in Albany New York On June 5 1917 he enlisted in the Fifteenth New York National Guard After fighting off a German attack on May 15 1918 Johnson and fellow soldier Needham Roberts were awarded the Croix de Guerre France's highest military honor They were the first two Americans ever to receive such an honor Johnson was promoted to sergeant just before his release from the army After the war Johnson gave promotional speeches for the army but the long term physical and emotional effects of the war took their toll His injuries made him unable to return to his work but because his paperwork hadn't recorded his injuries he was given neither disability pay nor a Purple Heart medal Johnson died in 1929 at age 32 In 1996 President Bill Clinton awarded Johnson the Purple Heart The US Army awarded Johnson the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in 2003 On June 2 2015 President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Congressional Medal of Honor the country's top award for bravery 97 years after Johnson earned it n
Members of the 369th US Infantry celebrate as they return home from war in February
most famous name is the nickname the German troops gave them the Harlem Hellfighters a name they earned for their ferocious skill on the battlefield The Harlem Hellfighters never lost a foot of ground and never had a man taken prisoner They did however lose 200 men who gave their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I and the unit suffered 1 500 casualties wounded or killed As for Johnson although small in size only 5 feet 4 inches 163 cm tall and 130 pounds 60 kg his big battle earned him the nickname Black Death This bloody battle however was part of a much bigger struggle the fight against racism For Johnson Roberts and all the Harlem Hellfighters their victories were in France but their biggest fight raged on in the states the battle for racial equality and equal justice under the law 13
