A statue of Henry Johnson is displayed in the Arbor Hill neighborhood in Albany, N.Y. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will consider whether the black World War I hero from Albany should be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor nearly 100 years after he single-handedly fought off a German attack, killing several of the enemy and saving a comrade despite suffering serious wounds. Johnson was a solider in an all-black outfit, the 369th Infantry Regiment, a New York National Guard unit based in Manhattan and known as the Harlem Hellfighters.ALBANY, N.Y.- Nearly 100 years after he single-handedly fought off a German attack and saved a comrade from capture despite suffering serious wounds, Sgt. Henry Johnson is a step closer to getting a posthumous Medal of Honor.
Army Secretary John McHugh has approved a Medal of Honor application for Johnson submitted by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and sent it to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for consideration. If Hagel gives his OK, the application will be sent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Barack Obama for final approvals.
“It’s on Hagel’s desk right now,” Schumer said Thursday. “This has been a long hard road, but we’re getting close to the finish line to right a wrong that was done close to 100 years ago.”
Pentagon officials won’t discuss details of deliberations on awards.
If approved, Johnson would become the 89th black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor and just the second for heroism during World War I, according to the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina-based Congressional Medal of Honor Society.