THE NEWS SAYS
The heroes will never know, but the America they helped forge can take pride that this is a country that strives to right its wrongs.
The moment was one of uplift as the ghosts of virulent prejudices past were banished after nearly a century during dual Medal of Honor ceremonies in the White House, one for a black World War I hero, the other for a Jew who displayed extraordinary valor in the same miserable, misbegotten conflict.
Pvt. Henry Johnson, the African-American, was from Albany. Sgt. William Shemin, the Jew, was from the Bronx. Both fought as volunteers in the trenches of France in 1918. It is distastefully necessary to highlight their backgrounds because it was hatred of the color of Johnson’s skin and of Shemin’s faith that cast the two into oblivion. Johnson bore the worst of the cruelty. When the war broke out, he left his job as a railroad porter, came to New York City and joined the 369th Regiment, a unit that would gain fame as the Harlem Hellfighters. Enlistees had pressed for permission to form a regiment in the face of the prevailing white view that blacks would be dangerous if allowed to become soldiers.
When, finally, New York’s governor and Legislature activated the regiment, the troops marched in ragtag uniforms and practiced shooting with broomsticks. Then, sent to France, they lobbied to go to the front rather than stay behind in the jobs assigned to African-American soldiers. But no American unit would fight by their side.
The French Army took them in, and they did battle under the French flag.
In the predawn hours of May 15, 1918, Johnson stood isolated sentry in a trench with Needham Roberts, a private from Trenton. A German raiding party of at least 12 men, and perhaps 24, tried to overrun their position. Johnson repelled them with his rifle, grenades and an 8-inch bolo knife, preventing the attackers from making off with the unconscious Roberts.
He fought through numerous bullet wounds, and lost most of the bones in one foot; he needed a shin replaced with a steel rod.
Although the French awarded him their highest military honor, the U.S. military discharged Johnson without so much as the Purple Heart or a disability pension. Celebrated on his return home, his disability left him unable to work. He died before the age of 40.
That President Obama awarded Johnson America’s highest military accolade was due to the persistence of one man: Sen. Chuck Schumer, who for more than a dozen years championed Johnson’s cause, including with exhaustive historical research that documented Johnson’s valor. A hearty salute to Schumer.
There being no known descendants, Command Sgt. Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard accepted the award as one of his last duties after 39 years of service. “What a way to go out,” he beamed afterward. Shemin’s advocate was his daughter Elsie, who waged a 13-year campaign to win recognition for a man who had run into a bloody no-man’s land three times to rescue fallen comrades.
When command broke down because of casualties among officers, Shemin took charge and led fearless dashes to rescue the fallen. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, but the Medal of Honor was a bridge too far amid anti-Semitism — until Tuesday.
It took far too long and far too much effort, and the heroes will never know, but the America they helped forge can take pride that this is a country that strives to right its wrongs.