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Black war heroes honored
Veterans Day
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Veterans Day 2008
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Post 6488 and its ladies auxiliary paid tribute to the Harlem Hell Fighters.
YOUNGSTOWN — Black veterans say the election of Barack Obama as president proves they were right to love and fight for their country, even in the face of racial discrimination.
The Harlem Hell Fighters and other all-black military units such as the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as individual blacks who served in the military, paved the way for Obama to become president, said Herman Adams, chairman of a Veterans Day service by the Donald Lockett Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6488.
Post 6488 and its ladies auxiliary continued their Veterans Day tradition of recognizing black military individuals and units, with the purpose of educating people about the contributions of blacks in the defense of their country.
This year’s tribute was to Army Sgt. Henry Johnson and the 369th Army Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hell Fighters or the Black Rattlers, said Adams, who served in the Army from 1947 to 1949 as part of the occupation force in Guam.
The 369th, organized as the 15th Regiment of the New York Guard, was absorbed into the Army in 1917 when the U.S. entered World War I. The unit, under the command of mostly white officers, was among the first to arrive in France, but was not allowed to fight along side white U.S. troops, Adams said.
However, Gen. John J. Pershing, who would not give the French any white U.S. units, sent the 369th to the French. The 369th spent 191 days in combat under French leadership, longer than any other American unit in the war, and was, as the advance guard, the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine River in Germany.
The 369th never lost a foot of ground and became the most decorated U.S. unit of the war. The regiment received the Croix de Guerre, a French military decoration for bravery in the face of the enemy, and 171 of the unit’s officers and troops received individual citations for bravery, including one Medal of Honor and numerous Distinguished Service Crosses.
Among those honored was Johnson, a former Albany, N.Y., rail station porter, who in May 1919, along with Pvt. Needham Roberts, fought off a 24- to 30-man German patrol, despite both being seriously wounded, said Ohio National Guard Col. John C. Harris Jr., keynote speaker for Tuesday’s service. Harris was introduced by Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich, a retired Air Force colonel.
Harris, deputy chief of staff for personnel for the Ohio National Guard Army and Air Force Joint Force Headquarters, said Johnson and Roberts were attacked by the German patrol, which wanted to capture a member of the unit for interrogation. Roberts was captured, but Johnson fired until his rifle jammed. Then he used it as a club, picked up some German hand grenades and threw those at the fleeing Germans and then attacked them with a knife. He rescued Roberts, but suffered 21 wounds during the fight, and when he returned home, he could not work.
Johnson, who received the Distinguished Service Cross, but not until 2003, died penniless and an alcoholic. Roberts died in an insane asylum.
“We have a name now — post-traumatic stress disorder — that we didn’t have then,” said Harris.
“They fought with great pride for their country and for themselves and what they could become. Regardless of politics, we have to take great pride that a black man has become president,” Harris said.
Obama’s election shows progress has been made, said the Rev. Lawrence Thomas Jr., associate pastor of the Church of God in Hubbard, whose adopted brother, George Wesley DeJarnett, was killed in the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam while serving in the Army. The Rev. Mr. Thomas, who said he encountered extreme racism while serving in the Navy from 1962 to 1966, said his brother’s death tore his family apart.
William Cousin Jr. is commander of VFW 6488, and Sandra S. Graves is president of the VFW 6488 Ladies Auxiliary.
alcorn@vindy.com