Shit-heel.

Portrait of Henry Johnson (1891-1929) 15th New York Infantry,The Harlem Hellfighters.

On the night of May 15, 1918, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts were at a listening outpost in No Man’s Land to detect enemy movements when they were attacked by a German raiding party. Roberts was quickly incapacitated, but he continued to hand grenades to a wounded Johnson. The Germans attempted to drag Roberts back to their trenches, but Johnson pursued them. Firing his rifle until it jammed and then using it as a club until it broke, Johnson drew a bolo knife and continued to fight. After reinforcements arrived, Johnson collapsed from twenty-one wounds.

Johnson’s discharge papers did not mention any wounds and he received no benefits. He returned to civilian life as a porter and died in 1929.

Henry Johnson was awarded France’s highest award for valor, the Croix de Guerre with gold palm. He was the first American and one of nearly 500 “Hellfighters” to receive the honor. Johnson did not receive similar recognition in his own country. It was not until 1996 that Henry Johnson was awarded the Purple Heart. In 2003, the U.S. Army posthumously awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross, this nation’s second highest award for valor.