After the 369th tolerated racial issues and being rejected from America's military, the Hellfighters got sent to fight for the French. Even though fighting for the French was supposed to be an insult, they willing fought. The 369th Infantry fought for the French so well, they got the nickname from the Germans, "Hellfighters."
"There isn't so much to tell. Just fought for my life. A rabbit would've done that." |
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This video is a personal account in which he describes how Henry Johnson and Neadham Roberts fought off the German raid.
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Hellfighter in the trenches of France. Courtesy of North Jersey History & Genealogy Center
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The trenches in Europe. Courtesy of Maps of World.
“I’ve always told these boys I’d never send them anywhere I would not go myself, so I went first to the trenches, prowled around, saw it all and came back to the regiment to take in the battalion which was to go in first.” - William Hayward |
Colonel William Hayward, Commander of the 369th Infantry. Courtesy of North Jersey History & Genealogy Center
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Henry Johnson with his Croix De Guerre. Courtesy of US Army
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Henry Johnson was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Johnson was the first man, black or white, to ever receive this award.
"If Henry Johnson was white, he would have walked out of that war with the medal of honor," says Max Brooks, the author of The Harlem Hellfighters. |
Max Brooks author of the Harlem Hellfighers graphic novel, courtesy of C-SPAN
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