Sgt. Henry Johnson Posthumously Awarded Medal of Honor

In this photograph, President Barack Obama presents CSM Louis Wilson with the posthumous Medal of Honor for Sgt. Henry Johnson in the East Room on June 2, 2015. Johnson enlisted in the United States Army on June 5, 1917, where he was assigned to an all-Black National Guard unit in Company C, 15th New York Infantry Regiment. The unit would later become the 369th Infantry Regiment. Johnson served on the western edge of the Argonne Forest in France from 1918-1919, during World War I. The 369th Infantry Regiment was brigaded with a French army colonial unit. For his gallantry, Johnson was among the first Americans awarded the French Croix de Guerre avec Palme, France's highest award for valor. In 1996, he was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart by President Bill Clinton.