Due the highest honor
Congress and the president must right a century-old racial wrong done to New Yorker Henry Johnson
The stage is set for America to meet a long-overdue national obligation now that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has recommended New Yorker Henry Johnson for the Medal of Honor.
Ninety-six years ago, during World War I, Johnson almost single-handedly repelled an assault by as many as 24 German soldiers on his post in France. He fought with rifle, knife and bare fists, suffering grievous injury while saving the life of his trenchmate.
The U.S. refused to recognize Johnson’s valor. The military denied him both the Purple Heart and a disability pension, despite his loss of a shinbone and most of the bones in one foot.
All because Henry Johnson of Albany was black.
Hagel endorsed Johnson for the nation’s highest accolade at the urging of Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has pressed the issue for 15 years and who two years ago submitted voluminous documentation of Johnson’s heroism.
That record met the Pentagon’s high standards of proof, satisfying Hagel, and before him U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh, that Johnson’s incredible exploits were, beyond all doubt, true.
Schumer must now win passage of legislation authorizing a Medal of Honor in connection with events that took place more than five years ago, the traditional time limit for the award. Washington’s gridlock must not stand in the way. Assuming success, the application would then go to President Obama for final review and determination.
A railroad station redcap when the U.S. entered the war, Johnson became one of 2,000 African Americans who enlisted in a newly formed, all-black National Guard unit that drilled with broomsticks in Harlem because the Army had no interest in equipping the men with rifles.
At the time, most black soldiers were limited to supply roles. Johnson’s unit, which came to be known as the Harlem Hellfighters, insisted on going into combat. With white Americans refusing to serve beside black Americans, the brass placed the men under French command.
So, after midnight on May 15, 1918, Johnson was isolated at the front with Needham Roberts, a teenager from Trenton. Germans came out of the darkness, firing their weapons and throwing grenades. Johnson took hits, then came to his feet fighting.
After emptying his rifle magazine, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat as he was hit by gunfire. When two Germans began to haul Roberts away, Johnson plunged an 8-inch knife into one man's skull, stabbed a second and disemboweled a third. Then he forced the attackers to retreat under a bombardment of grenades.
In the day, the episode became known as “The Battle of Henry Johnson.” The French awarded him the high honor of their Croix de Guerre avec Palme. New York greeted him and the Hellfighters with a raucous parade on their return.
And the U.S. sent Johnson into oblivion.
Penniless and struggling with alcohol, he died at the age of 32 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1996, the U.S. awarded him a posthumous Purple Heart and added the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002, finding insufficient historical documentation to support the Medal of Honor.
Hagel and McHugh are now satisfied on that score. Congress must authorize Obama to consider Johnson for the Medal of Honor, so the President can right a racial wrong done almost a century ago.
Congress and the president must right a century-old racial wrong done to New Yorker Henry Johnson
The stage is set for America to meet a long-overdue national obligation now that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has recommended New Yorker Henry Johnson for the Medal of Honor.
Ninety-six years ago, during World War I, Johnson almost single-handedly repelled an assault by as many as 24 German soldiers on his post in France. He fought with rifle, knife and bare fists, suffering grievous injury while saving the life of his trenchmate.
The U.S. refused to recognize Johnson’s valor. The military denied him both the Purple Heart and a disability pension, despite his loss of a shinbone and most of the bones in one foot.
All because Henry Johnson of Albany was black.
Hagel endorsed Johnson for the nation’s highest accolade at the urging of Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has pressed the issue for 15 years and who two years ago submitted voluminous documentation of Johnson’s heroism.
That record met the Pentagon’s high standards of proof, satisfying Hagel, and before him U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh, that Johnson’s incredible exploits were, beyond all doubt, true.
Schumer must now win passage of legislation authorizing a Medal of Honor in connection with events that took place more than five years ago, the traditional time limit for the award. Washington’s gridlock must not stand in the way. Assuming success, the application would then go to President Obama for final review and determination.
A railroad station redcap when the U.S. entered the war, Johnson became one of 2,000 African Americans who enlisted in a newly formed, all-black National Guard unit that drilled with broomsticks in Harlem because the Army had no interest in equipping the men with rifles.
At the time, most black soldiers were limited to supply roles. Johnson’s unit, which came to be known as the Harlem Hellfighters, insisted on going into combat. With white Americans refusing to serve beside black Americans, the brass placed the men under French command.
So, after midnight on May 15, 1918, Johnson was isolated at the front with Needham Roberts, a teenager from Trenton. Germans came out of the darkness, firing their weapons and throwing grenades. Johnson took hits, then came to his feet fighting.
After emptying his rifle magazine, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat as he was hit by gunfire. When two Germans began to haul Roberts away, Johnson plunged an 8-inch knife into one man's skull, stabbed a second and disemboweled a third. Then he forced the attackers to retreat under a bombardment of grenades.
In the day, the episode became known as “The Battle of Henry Johnson.” The French awarded him the high honor of their Croix de Guerre avec Palme. New York greeted him and the Hellfighters with a raucous parade on their return.
And the U.S. sent Johnson into oblivion.
Penniless and struggling with alcohol, he died at the age of 32 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1996, the U.S. awarded him a posthumous Purple Heart and added the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002, finding insufficient historical documentation to support the Medal of Honor.
Hagel and McHugh are now satisfied on that score. Congress must authorize Obama to consider Johnson for the Medal of Honor, so the President can right a racial wrong done almost a century ago.
