April 8, 1918: The Harlem Hellfighters joined the French Army in battling German forces
Published: 8 April 2025
By Jerry Mitchell
via the Mississippi Today website
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Nine men from the 369th Infantry, Harlem Hellfighters, posing for an iconic photo on their return home from World War One. (Credit: Public Domain)
The 369th Infantry Regiment, which the Germans called the “Harlem Hellfighters,” joined the French Army in battling German forces.
“The Hellfighters, the most celebrated African-American regiment in World War I, confronted racism, even as they trained for war, helped bring jazz to France, then battled Germany longer than almost any other American doughboys,” Smithsonian Magazine wrote.
They became the first Black regiment to fight in World War I. By the end of the war, 171 of the soldiers had received the Legion of Honor for their bravery. Two soldiers, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, received the Croix de Guerre, bestowed by France and Belgium for heroism. The soldiers also received two Medals of Honor and many Distinguished Service Crosses.
At the end of the war, they were welcomed back home with a parade along New York City’s 5th Avenue. Black Americans packed the sidewalks, and many children were dismissed from school to watch. The day of the parade, Feb. 17, 1919, became an unofficial holiday each year in Harlem. Descending units of the Regiment have continued to serve in the years following World War I.
In 2014, a graphic novel by Max Brooks and Caanan White recognized their heroic deeds, and a year later, the soldier who symbolized their fight, Henry Johnson, received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Johnson suffered 21 combat injuries. When he returned home from his war, he was unable to return to his pre-war porter position because of the severity of those injuries and died in July 1929.
“America can’t change what happened to Henry Johnson,” President Barack Obama said in presenting the Medal of Honor, “but we can do our best to make it right.”
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