After a baggage handler becoming a war hero and his subsequent days of rose wine, this story could have had a happy ending but sadly it didn't for our protagonist... Henry Lincoln Johnson .
Henry Lincoln Johnson
Johnson was a baggage handler who worked at the Albany train station. (New York) that turned his life around in 1917 when he enlisted in the Army. He did so in the 369th Infantry Regiment, the first US Army Regiment made up of Afro-Americans and Puerto Ricans - the latter US citizens since March 2, 1917, when the United States Congress approved the Jones Act. This regiment was called Harlem Hellfighters (Harlem Hell Fighters). When the US entered World War I, the Harlem Hellfighters were sent to France. Although the unit was not very prepared, the Allies' lack of troops forced them to integrate them into the Four French Army. Johnson and his companions were taught a few words of French and sent to the front lines in the Argonne Forest. During one of the patrols that Johnson had to do in the company of his companion Needham Roberts , they were surprised by a platoon of Germans… they defended themselves as best they could but both were wounded and the Germans managed to take Roberts prisoner. Johnson was faced with the dilemma of warning of the German raid or helping Roberts. Being wounded, the most logical thing would have been to notify the French forces, but our protagonist was from Harlem... he armed himself to the teeth and activated the Rambo mode. :he ran towards where the Germans had fallen back throwing grenades and firing his rifle. Although he was injured again - now he activated the mode Benavidez – He managed to get to the group of Germans and when he ran out of bullets he used his rifle as a baseball bat until he smashed them. He took out his machete and continued with the carnage… four Germans dead, more than 10 wounded and as many others who fled when the French arrived. Black Death (The Black Death) -which they called him from that moment- had 21 wounds but he had saved his companion and had prevented the enemy's incursion.
Johnson was the first American to receive the Croix de Guerre , the highest award for valor awarded by the French government. When the war ended, the Harlem Hellfighters were received with honors - in fact they were the most decorated regiment in World War I - in a parade led by Sergeant Johnson on Fifth Avenue in New York.
His days of wine and roses only lasted a couple of years. When he was discharged, they did not record his multiple injuries and, therefore, he was denied the disability pension. He did not want to continue with that battle and tried to resume his previous job, but the consequences of all his injuries prevented him from carrying weight and being on his feet for a long time. The inability to find a job according to his many limitations made him take refuge in the bottle. Drunk, his wife and his three children abandoned him... the war hero became homeless . In 1929, at just 32 years old, he died... without official recognition from the US government.
Only years later, and because of the fight of his son Herman who was part of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, he got the posthumous recognition he deserved:in 1996 President Bill Clinton awarded him the Purple Heart and in 2001 the Distinguished Service Cross .