{"id":77506,"date":"2025-09-05T15:58:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T15:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/09\/05\/harlem-hellfighters-awarded-congressional-gold-medal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:53:49","slug":"harlem-hellfighters-awarded-congressional-gold-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2025\/09\/05\/harlem-hellfighters-awarded-congressional-gold-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlem Hellfighters awarded Congressional Gold Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Sept. 3 to the Harlem Hellfighters, one of the most renowned Black combat units of World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Descendants of those soldiers were in attendance to accept the recognition, Congress\u2019 highest civilian award, on behalf of their ancestors\u2019 actions during a ceremony in Washington, according to a DOD press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/3642\/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22raul+grijalva%22%5D%7D&amp;r=1&amp;s=1\" rel=\"\">approval of the medal was passed in Congress on Aug. 9, 2021<\/a>, during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highly decorated, the 369th Infantry Regiment was initially nicknamed the \u201cBlack Rattlers\u201d for the rattlesnake insignia that adorned their uniforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The French called the unit \u201cMen of Bronze,\u201d while it is believed that they gained their \u201cHellfighter\u201d moniker from their German foes owing to their courage and ferocity in combat, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/nmaahc.si.edu\/blog-post\/remembering-harlem-hellfighters\" rel=\"\">National Museum of American History and Culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Hellfighters, like many non-white demographics in the 20th century, were forced to fight a war on two fronts. Before, during and well after the carnage of WWI, racism encountered by Black soldiers by their white American counterparts was severe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Gen. John G. Pershing even went as far as authorizing the distribution of a pamphlet, titled <a href=\"https:\/\/museum.dmna.ny.gov\/unit-history\/conflict\/world-war-1-1914-1918\/black-americans-us-military\" rel=\"\">\u201cSecret Information Concerning Black American Troops,\u201d<\/a> advising America\u2019s French allies against relying on \u2014 or even associating with \u2014 their Black peers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his correspondence, Pershing claimed the men of the 369th were \u201cinferior\u201d to white soldiers, acted as a \u201cconstant menace to the American\u201d and didn\u2019t possess a \u201ccivic and professional conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burdened by a misguided reputation, the Harlem Hellfighters were initially relegated to labor-intensive duties. That was until they were ordered into battle in 1918 and assigned to the French Army, who seemed to care far less about race than their American allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would be among the 16th Division of the French Army that the Harlem Hellfighters would learn how to survive the slog of trench warfare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Such experiences, meanwhile, were left out of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4293099\/hegseth-recounts-tenacity-valor-of-world-war-i-era-black-infantry-regiment\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4293099\/hegseth-recounts-tenacity-valor-of-world-war-i-era-black-infantry-regiment\/\">Pentagon\u2019s announcement<\/a> this week, which only briefly acknowledged \u201cracial tensions that came with serving in a segregated Army stateside.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The all-Black unit would go on to spend 191 days in continuous combat, more than any other American unit of its size. During that time, about 1,400 soldiers were killed or wounded \u2014 suffering more losses than any other American regiment during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the bill, the \u201c369th never lost a foot of ground nor had a man taken prisoner, despite suffering a high number of casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter the war,\u201d writes the NMAHC, \u201cthe French government awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre medal to 171 members of the regiment, as well as a Croix de Guerre citation to the unit as a whole.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among those men was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2023\/06\/15\/get-to-know-the-heroic-namesake-of-the-newly-christened-fort-johnson\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2023\/06\/15\/get-to-know-the-heroic-namesake-of-the-newly-christened-fort-johnson\/\">Henry Johnson<\/a>, whose bravery on May 15, 1918, led to him being posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"459\" height=\"258\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PVT-Henry-Johnson-20220210.jfif_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86929\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PVT-Henry-Johnson-20220210.jfif_.jpg 459w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PVT-Henry-Johnson-20220210.jfif_.jpg?resize=300,169 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">New York Army National Guard Sgt. Henry Johnson received the French Croix de Guerre for his actions in defending his outpost and PVT Needham Roberts on May 15, 1918. (New York State Military Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson was standing guard with 17-year-old Needham Roberts early that morning when heard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/remembering-henry-johnson-the-soldier-called-black-death-117386701\/\" rel=\"\">\u201csnippin\u2019 and clippin\u2019\u201d<\/a> sounds of at least 12 Germans cutting their way through the wire encircling the guard post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the dark, Johnson tossed a grenade in the direction of the commotion and all hell broke loose. The German invaders unleashed a wall of gunfire and grenades toward the two watchmen, injuring Needham Roberts immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unable to walk, Roberts sat upright in the trench and continued to feed Johnson grenades \u2014 but the Germans kept coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson quickly exhausted the supply and switched to his rifle. It jammed. Enemy soldiers were close enough to touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Germans attempted to grab Roberts from the trench and take him prisoner, Johnson, who stood at only 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds, went to work, abandoning the cover of the trench and swinging his rifle, fists and bolo knife in a blur of clubbing, punching and cutting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEach slash meant something, believe me,\u201d Johnson recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was later determined by observers that Johnson killed four of the enemy and wounded upwards of a dozen more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of his feat, the self-effacing private later recalled, \u201cthere wasn\u2019t anything so fine about it. Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In June 2023, the Louisiana installation Fort Polk shed its Confederate namesake to honor Johnson, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.historynet.com\/valor-heroic-hellfighter.htm\" rel=\"\">suffered 21 injuries<\/a> in the melee, including bullet and stab wounds to his head, torso, right arm and left leg, as well as a shattered left foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This past July, Hegseth, who presented the Gold Medal to Hellfighter descendants this week, personally oversaw the stripping of Johnson\u2019s name from the base in favor of returning it to one adjacent to its Confederate past \u2014 Gen. James H. Polk, who was awarded the Silver Star for his World War II service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Hellfighters initially received a hero\u2019s welcome at war\u2019s end, but their fame quickly faded into a small coda of World War I history \u2014 largely due to the nation\u2019s virulent racism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson himself contracted tuberculosis and later died, destitute, in July 1929 of myocarditis at the age of 36. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while more than a century has passed since their heroic deeds, Congress has given recognition where it is due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe symbol of the men we honor today as the Harlem Hellfighters; the symbol of these soldiers who were the bravest Americans,\u201d Hegseth said during the ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe ought always thank almighty God for such men; and may we honor them forever, especially because they were not honored in their time,\u201d he concluded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hegseth, who recently oversaw the stripping of a base name honoring a Harlem Hellfighter, presented the award to descendants of the Harlem Hellfighters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":86,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,86,16,26,21,67],"tags":[8477,8478],"coauthors":[3402,3406],"class_list":["post-77506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-air-force","tag-military-history","tag-war-history"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"APUGXEXXYZDETLPK4ZJYKJVMEA","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/military-history\/2025\/09\/05\/harlem-hellfighters-awarded-congressional-gold-medal\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Harlem Hellfighters awarded Congressional Gold Medal - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hegseth, who recently oversaw the stripping of a base name honoring a Harlem Hellfighter, presented the award to descendants of the Harlem Hellfighters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harlem Hellfighters awarded Congressional Gold Medal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hegseth, who recently oversaw the stripping of a base name honoring a Harlem Hellfighter, presented the award to descendants of the Harlem Hellfighters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2025\/09\/05\/harlem-hellfighters-awarded-congressional-gold-medal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T15:58:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T20:53:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire Barrett, J.D. 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