Honor in sight

America appears poised to right a historic racial injustice with legislation that would empower President Obama to award the Medal of Honor to a long-slighted black New York soldier. Henry Johnson displayed astonishing valor in World War I as a member of the renowned Harlem Hellfighters, yet he was denied recognition because he was African-American.

First, Johnson’s all-black regiment had to battle for permission to join the U.S. war effort.

Then, the regiment went to the front lines in France under French command because white American forces refused combat duty with blacks.

Then, almost single-handedly, Johnson repelled an attack by as many as 24 German soldiers. Fighting with rifle, knife and fists, he saved the life of a trenchmate while suffering life-long injuries.

The French awarded Johnson the high honor of their Croix de Guerre with gold palm. New York greeted him and the Hellfighters with a pa- rade on their return. And the U.S. denied Johnson both a Purple Heart and a disability pension, even though he had lost a shinbone and most bones in one foot.

For more than 15 years, Sen. Chuck Schumer has pressed the case for posthumously awarding the Medal of Honor to Johnson. To his credit, Schumer kept up the fight after the Pentagon in 2003 bestowed the nation’s second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. The brass wanted more proof of Johnson’s heroism.

In 2011, Schumer’s team unearthed new firsthand documentary evidence, which prompted both the secretary of the U.S. Army and the secretary of defense to recommend the Medal of Honor for Johnson.

He has now added an amendment to a major defense bill that would permit Obama to review Johnson’s actions. The House and Senate on Friday okayed the legislation.

Soon the remarkable bravery of Henry Johnson will be on the President’s desk for consideration and, surely, a Medal of Honor award.

It’s long past time.