warhistorywithbacon

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Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters

Because I’m not a historian, or an actual teacher; this isn’t going to be a formal sort of lesson.

For the introductory story on this blog, I wanted to start with one of my all time favorite stories. It’s about a black regiment during World War I, officially know are the 369th Infantry Regiment. They were all members of the New York Army National Guard, and simply because of the color of their skin, they were not allowed to fight alongside the white regiments. 

Now, there’s a lot of anecdotal information, that I’m not entirely sure is true. There’s one story of white soldiers finding out that the shops in a nearby town in South Carolina wouldn’t sell anything to these men. Supposedly, they told the shop owners that they might as well close the doors to their shops, because they wouldn’t buy anything from them if they wouldn’t sell to their buddies.

In 1918, however, they were shipped out to France. With them, they brought jazz music to Europe. But, they had to leave their uniforms, helmets, rifles, and “almost every bit of American gear” in the United States. Their standard issue Springfield rifles were replaced with the French Lebel. While the Lebel was considered reliable, they were also notoriously temperamental and annoying as hell to load. 

“The Lebels were nowhere near as good as our Springfields. The French, you see, were great believers in the hand grenade; their rifles seemed more or less something to put a bayonet on.” -- Capt. Hamilton Fish, 369th Infantry.

In May of 1918, the 369th was standing watch in the Argonne Forest. On one night, two soldiers were standing guard, Private Henry Johnson and Private Needham Roberts, when a German raiding party attacked. 

Now, there are varying accounts as to exactly how many Germans attacked, or how the battle went down. Though, there are a few that hold true, no matter what version you hear.

1. Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were both wounded in the firefight.

2. There were, at least, 12 German soldiers that attacked their position. Most of the accounts I’ve found say that there were 24 German soldiers. But, the next point is why this is one of my favorite stories from WWI

3. Henry Johnson, while wounded, shot one German soldier and then beat another one over the head with his rifle. He then advanced on the enemy, and stabbed another one in the head with his Bolo knife. In the head. With a fourteen inch, one pound eight ounce knife.

All in all, it’s said that Henry killed, at least, four enemy soldiers and wounded several more. It was from this even that he earned the nickname “The Black Death”, and the Harlem Hellfighters became one of the more storied American combat groups in the entire war.

The 369th Infantry Regiment “Harlem Hellfighters” were the first American regiment to fight in the first World War, and they were also the first Americans award the Croix de Guerre, the highest military honor awarded in France, by the French government for gallantry in combat. 

Unfortunately, Henry Johnson passed away poor, in obscurity in 1929. In 1996, he was finally award a Purple Heart. In 2015, President Barack Obama, posthumously awarded Johnson the Medal of Honor, after previous attempts failed.

The Harlem Hellfighters have, in my opinion, one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever heard. The story of the Argonne Forest raiding party, being one of the most famous. There is a lot I didn’t cover in this, but I highly suggest looking into them. You won’t be disappointed.