It was after midnight on May 15 , 1918 when William Henry Johnson began tohearthe whispering . Johnson was a recollective way from his household in Albany , New York , guarding a bridge in the Argonne Forest in Champagne , France . kip next to him was Needham Roberts , a fellow soldier . Both men had enlist in the New York National Guard just a few months earlier and were now part of the French Army , donate by U.S. force to their understaffed allies in the midst of World War I.
As Johnson continued hearing the strange noises late into the dark , he urged his spouse to get up . A tired Roberts waved him off , conceive Johnson was just nervous . Johnson decided topreparehimself just in case , piling up his miscellanea of grenade and rifle cartridge within arm ’s reach . If someone was coming , he would be quick .
The whisper continued . At one stop , Johnson heard a clipping noise — what he suspected was the sound of the perimeter fencing being cut . He again told Roberts to wake up . " Man , " he said , " You better stir up up moderately soon or you [ might ] never wake up . "
The two began lobbing grenades into the dark , hop-skip to discourage whoever might be lurking around the border . Suddenly , in the heart of the French forest , Johnson realise dozens of German soldiers come charging , bayonets pointed toward him . They began to fire .
What transpired over the next hour would become an enactment of heroism that prompted former President Theodore Roosevelt to declare Johnson one of the bravest Americans to take up arm in the war . Johnson would even lead a procession back in New York City , with crowds lined up along the street to greet him .
Johnson may or may not have find like a poor boy , though he certainly was . But he must have also felt something else — a gumption of confusion . A man of coloration , he had been off to a segregated regiment , where he received paltry combat grooming and was specify menial tasks like unlade trucks . Even his homecoming parade was split up allot to backwash . Henry Johnson , ornament virtually head to toe in French military honors , returned to a country that view him both Cuban sandwich and a 2d - class citizen .
Though officer would later verify much of Johnson ’s report of that Nox in the wood , his early life is harder to trap down . It has been reported that Johnson himself was n’t quite trusted when he was born . No one appeared to have maintain a close center on his birth certificate , which make out out of Winston - Salem , North Carolina . The official U.S. Army websitehonoringJohnson ’s service list an approximate birth date of July 15 , 1892 . Otherresearchindicates he could have been bear as early as 1887 or as tardily as 1897 .
After moving to New York as a teenager , Johnson took on an assortment of odd jobs ; he was a chauffeur and a soda mixer , among other job . calculate on the account , he was hold up in Albany solve either in a coal yard or as a railroad porter when he opened a paper in the leap of 1917 andreadthat the fifteenth New York Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard was accepting enlistees . The regiment was comprised entirely of black soldiers .
Johnson showed up on June 5 , 1917 , press a slender 130 pounds and standing 5 animal foot , 4 column inch tall . put to Company C of the 15th — which later became sleep with as the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment — he was quicklydispatchedto Camp Wadsworth in South Carolina , where he develop along with the rest of the segregated unit . Though minority hadservedin the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War , they often lacked keep from officials and got inferior education compare to their white counterparts . At Camp Wadsworth , Johnson was read to have been used primarily as Labor Department , unloading supplies and moil latrines . If there was one shiny spot during this prison term , it was that he wed his wife , Georgina Edna Jackson , that September .
Johnson and the 369th were sent to France on January 1 , 1918 . There they continue laboring , which frustrated their air force officer , Colonel William Hayward . Haywardlobbiedhis superiors to give his men a opportunity in combat . Since France was live a shortage of men , the 369th — which later became known as the Harlem Hellfighters because many of their members hadcomefrom Harlem in New York City — unite the 161st Division of the French Army , evenwearingthe cap and helmets of the alien military .
To the French , Johnson and his fellow soldiers were a welcome solution to their deficiency of manpower . Sent to the front lines in March 1918 , Johnson and the others learned enough French to understand commands from superiors . They were armed with rifles and held on to the bolo knivesusedby the U.S. Army . The imposing 14 - inch blades count more than a pound and had much of their weight run along the back , giving them a cleaving action interchangeable to a panga . Johnson would soon be glad he had such a artillery on his shank .
Along with Needham Roberts — a man from Trenton , New Jersey — Johnson was assigned sentry duty on the western sharpness of the Argonne Forest . Patrolling near a bridge , Johnson and Roberts were given the recent shift , on patrol until midnight on the evening of May 14 . It would be a night neither he nor Roberts would ever forget .
As their shift combat injury down , Johnson saw two relief soldiers approaching . The soldiers were youthful and inexperient , and Johnson felt uncomfortable leave them alone . He stayed put and surveyed the area while Roberts went to rest in a oceanic abyss . Shortly thereafter , he commence to hear the rustle randomness , which finally became German soldier rush through the darkness . Johnson take in they were environ , and urged Roberts to campaign for help . But Roberts did n’t get far before he settle to come back and help , and was before long hit by the shrapnel of a grenade in his branch and rose hip .
Still witting , Roberts handed Johnson grenade to throw away . When those ran out , Johnson began fire his rifle while being hit by bullets in his side , script , and head . speedily , Johnson shove an American magazine into his Gallic rifle , but the ammo and the weapon were incompatible . The rifle block . As the Germans swarmed him , Johnson set about using the rifle like a club , smashing it over their chief and into their faces .
After the butt of the rifle finally fall apart , Johnson went down with a reversal to the head . But he rise back up , depict his bolo knife , and charged forrad . The blade went deep into the first German he chance , killing the serviceman . More gruesome employment with the weapon system follow , with Johnson hacking and stab bodies even as bullets proceed to strike him .
At one point , Johnson acknowledge the Germans had grabbed Roberts and were attempting to haul him away . He intervene , stab more soldiers , including one in the ribs .
The scrimmage go on for roughly an hour , he said . When reinforcements in conclusion arrived , the remaining Germans fled . Johnson was given aesculapian attention . So was Roberts . Both last .
The next mean solar day , military officials visited the scene of the fight . German helmets rested on the ground , along with puddles of blood . Four bodies were left behind . The functionary guess Johnson had wounded up to 24 others . Some men who walked the site said the death price was six , with Johnson injuring 32 men . After all the fighting , Johnson had prevented the Germans from breaking the Gallic line .
The nicknames came fast . The bridge was declare “ the Battle of Henry Johnson . ” Johnson himself was afford the unofficial label “ the Black Death ” and the prescribed social rank of sergeant . He was headed back home .
Before they departed , the French honored Johnson and Roberts with the Croix de Guerre , one of France ’s highest awards for valor . They were the first two Americans to have it . Johnson ’s was amended with the addition of the Gold Palm , intended to stand for over-the-top valor .
It was an honor , though one that come with a heavy price . Johnson after estimated he had been shot five time , the bullets striking both base , his second joint , his branch , and even his read/write head . A mark stretch over his lip . A bayonet had been plunged into his torso — twice . He had to have a metal plate sneak in into his unexpended metrical foot . In all , Johnson endured 21 injury as a result of his defiant stand against the Germans .
Back home , he convalesced as the country peach his praises . Often , such reports of his bravery took pains to observe he was a man of color . " When proudly speaking of fight slipstream we must not overlook the American Negro,“readan column in theNew York Evening Telegram . Other time , Johnson discover himself in the peculiar office of being celebrated while at the same time being reminded of his purportedly deficient status . The parade that honored the Harlem Hellfighters in February 1919 unravel for seven mi , with Johnson leading the advance in an undefendable - topped cab . But the Hellfighters could not march with their white counterparts .
Unfortunately , Johnson ’s postwar lifetime rest as cloudy as his early class . He reportedly received disability payments from the government as well as aesculapian caution , but it ’s unknown to what extent that supported him or how badly his injuries kept him from employment opportunity . ( He did take for , andreceived , as much as $ 100 per second during speaking engagements in city such as St. Louis — well over $ 1000 in today ’s money . ) An attempt was made by the Albany Afro - American Association to raise money to work up him ahomeas a direction of expressing gratitude for his service , but it ’s unclear whether the movement was successful . On July 1 , 1929 , Johnson died of myocarditis ( an redness of the heart muscle ) while living in Washington , D.C. He was award a posthumous Purple Heart in 1996 .
For old age , it was undecipherable what became of Johnson ’s cadaver . In 2002 , when the historians at the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs researched his service at the behest of his posterity ( though it was later discovered they were false and not actually connect to Johnson ) , the historiographer determine Johnson was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors . With verification of the gravesite , Johnson also became eligible for and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002 .
In 2015 , President Barack Obamaawardedhim the Medal of Honor , which was accept on Johnson ’s behalf by Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard . And every June 5 , AlbanycelebratesHenry Johnson Day in acknowledgement of the daytime he enlisted . The city also pay out a Henry Johnson Award for Distinguished Community Service for those relieve oneself contributions in the area .
Those accolade joined the Croix de Guerre , which Johnson was said to have wear with humility . He sometimes take to be prodded into discussing his act of fearlessness , as if it were of no major consequence . “ There was n’t anything so fine about it , ” he say . “ [ I ] just fought for my life . A coney would have done that . "
