Henry Johnson (World War I soldier)

For the 1890 Medal of Honor recipient, see Henry Johnson (Buffalo Soldier). For the attorney and politician, see Henry Lincoln Johnson.

Henry Johnson
Birth nameWilliam Henry Johnson
Nickname(s)Black Death
Bornc. (1892-07-15)July 15, 1892[1]
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
DiedJuly 1, 1929(1929-07-01) (aged 36)
Washington, D.C., United States
Buried
Arlington National Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1917–1919
RankSergeant
Service number1316046
Unit369th Infantry Regiment, New York National Guard
Battles / warsWorld War I
Awards Medal of Honor
Purple Heart (2)
Croix de Guerre (France)

William Henry Johnson (circa July 15, 1892 – July 1, 1929), commonly known as Henry Johnson,[2] was a United States Army soldier who performed heroically in the first African American unit of the United States Army to engage in combat in World War I.[3] On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while suffering 21 wounds, in an action that was brought to the nation's attention by coverage in the New York World and The Saturday Evening Post later that year. On June 2, 2015, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House.[4]

In 1918, the French awarded Johnson with a Croix de guerre with star and bronze palm. He was the first U.S. soldier in World War I to receive that honor.[3][5]

Johnson died poor and in obscurity in 1929.[1] There was a long struggle to achieve awards for him from the U.S. military. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1996. In 2002, the U.S. military awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross. Previous efforts to secure the Medal of Honor failed,[3] but in 2015 he was posthumously honored with the award. On May 24, 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that Fort Polk in Leesville, Louisiana, be renamed Fort Johnson after Henry Johnson, rather than its previous namesake, Confederate General Leonidas Polk. The post was renamed in Johnson's honor in a ceremony on June 5, 2023.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Sergeant Henry Johnson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Although he has been confused with Henry Lincoln Johnson in several sources, they are different individuals. See Smolenyak, Megan. "Memorial Day: Correcting the Story of World War I Medal of Honor Recipient Sgt. Henry Johnson". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Martin, Tony (2008). "Johnson, Henry". American National Biography Online.
  4. ^ Shear, Michael D. (June 3, 2015). "Two World War I Soldiers Posthumously Receive Medal of Honor". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  5. ^ "Conflicts – World War I – Personal Stories: Henry Johnson, 15th New York Infantry — The Harlem Hellfighters (1891—1929)". New York State Museum. Archived from the original on March 4, 2011.