100 Years Ago, WWI’s 1st American Hero Fought For Life with a Knife

Above: New York Army National Guard Sgt. Henry Johnson, circa 1919. Johnson was part of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Hellfighters from Harlem, who fought under French command in WWI as an all-black combat unit. Photo courtesy of the NYS Military Museum

By Army Col. Richard Goldenberg, New York National Guard

This blog is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we’ll highlight one of the 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have earned the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.

He was 26 years old, 5-foot-4, weighed 130 pounds and came from Albany, New York. And on the night of May 15, 1918, Pvt. Henry Johnson, a member of the all-black New York National Guard 369th Infantry Regiment, found himself fighting for his life against 20 German soldiers out in front of his unit’s trenchline.

Johnson fired the three rounds in his French-made rifle, tossed all his hand grenades and then grabbed his Army-issue bolo knife and started stabbing. He buried the knife in the head of one attacker and then disemboweled another German soldier.

“Each slash meant something, believe me,” Johnson said later. “There wasn’t anything so fine about it. … Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.”

By the time what a reporter called “The Battle of Henry Johnson” was over, Johnson had been wounded 21 times and had become the first American hero of World War I.

Johnson’s actions that night brought attention to the African-American doughboys of the unit, the New York National Guard’s former 15th Infantry, redesignated the 369th for wartime service.