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Indicative of their valor on the battlefield was an incident involving Pvt. Henry Johnson and Pvt. Needham Roberts, who were manning a listening post in no-man’s land on the Western Front when 24 German soldiers attacked them on a nighttime snatch-and-grab mission. Both men were shot, Johnson three times. But Johnson quickly rose and fired his three-shot rifle, killing as many enemy soldiers. He used the empty rifle as a club until it shattered, then grabbed a bolo knife and slashed at every German soldier within arm’s reach. Unable to capture the soldier from Albany, the remaining German soldiers retreated, but not before Johnson used his grenades to kill several more. For his bravery, Johnson received the French Croix de Guerre.


 


Until then, few Americans had known anything about the 369th. That changed almost overnight, as newspapers nationwide carried the story of Johnson’s single-handed victory against an entire German platoon. “The black community sent a letter to President [Woodrow] Wilson noting the first American hero of the war was an African-American and asked him to finally speak out against lynching, which was a huge problem in the South and elsewhere — and he did,” says Harris. “Henry Johnson was responsible for that. But he was denied a … Medal of Honor.” An effort is under way, Harris says, to award Johnson the citation posthumously.


The 369th transferred to the 161st French Division and continued to see combat. In July 1918, its members helped repulse a major German attack and moved with Allied forces as they pushed the German army back to the Hindenburg Line. On Sept. 26, the Allies began a final offensive against Germany. Despite heavy artillery and machine gun fire, the 369th successfully attacked the heights of Bellevue Ridge and took the town of Ripont, crossed the Dormois River, and fought the enemy to Sechault, a village so heavily fortified that French Army Gen. Philippe Pétain thought it beyond capture. The Harlem Hellfighters proved him wrong, taking the town despite heavy casualties.


On to the Rhine
“That brought the war to an end for the 369th,” says Harris. “With the Armistice, the French allowed the Hellfighters to lead the Allies to the Rhine.” For its service, the regiment received the Croix de Guerre. Years later, many Harlem Hellfighters also received citations from the U.S. Army.


When the members of the 369th returned to New York Feb. 17, 1919, they were welcomed with a raucous parade up Fifth Avenue — led by the regimental band under Europe’s direction — that became a genuine lovefest as the black soldiers entered Harlem. “The crowd rushed over to hug the soldiers,” Harris says. “Later, the 369th was able to get its own armory in Harlem. It’s still there now.


“The Hellfighters were pioneers,” Harris says. “They paved the way for other black regiments and proved they could fight. It’s a legacy that continues today.”
MO


— Don Vaughan, a freelance writer based in North Carolina, is a frequent contributor to Military Officer and author of the Pages of History department.


74 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2014

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