ALBANY – For the next 10 weeks, visitors will be able to view artifacts and a special honor associated with a real American hero at an Albany City Hall display.
The man: World War I soldier Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany.
The artifacts: A bolo knife, helmet and insignia he would have carried.
And it wouldn’t be complete without the actual Medal of Honor he was awarded posthumously and only recently.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan unveiled the exhibit Thursday morning at City Hall. Also gathered were federal, state, city and county elected officials and their representatives, military and veteran leaders, advocates and the Albany High School Henry Johnson Battalion Junior ROTC.
“This is going to be an opportunity for everybody to see the symbol of one of our greatest war heroes in Albany, and somebody who has recently been recognized,” said Dennis Gaffney, the mayor’s communications coordinator. “But people haven’t been able to see the medal or touch the history. That’s why we brought it here for 10 weeks.”
Johnson came to Albany with his family from North Carolina when he was a teenager, according to a history provided by the city. On June 5, 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army but because of racial segregation and the refusal of the Army to allow Black soldiers to participate in combat, members of 369th Infantry Regiment, the “Harlem Hellfighters,” fought under French command.
In May 1918, he single-handedly fought off a German attack and saved the life of a fellow soldier using a rifle, a knife and grenades. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest award for valor, the first American to receive the honor.
Though former President Theodore Roosevelt called him one of the “five greatest Americans” to serve in the war — and he sustained 21 wounds — Johnson never received an award from his home country, the city history notes. He spoke out against the racism he and other Black men experienced in the Army, then was banned from ever publicly speaking again, and also could not wear his uniform in public. He died penniless in 1929 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
It took a major effort by local elected officials to get Johnson the Medal of Honor. Johnson was awarded a Purple Heart in 1996, the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002 and the Medal of Honor in 2015 by President Barack Obama.
The exhibit will be open every weekday until July 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ronald Wilson, president of the Albany District of the 369th Veterans Association, urged all in the city to view the display.
“Just a few generations ago, Sgt. Henry Johnson walked the streets of Albany, worked in this city, and got married. He fought for his country with uncommon courage,” Wilson stated. “We must remember his name and his deeds on the battlefield and his courage speaking out against racism — and we do that by giving his medal and memory a place of honor: Albany City Hall.”
Medal Viewing Times
• Each weekday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. until Friday, July 1
• Noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 18 for the commemoration of Juneteenth, the national holiday that marks the freeing of enslaved African Americans
• Evening hours until 8 p.m. on Monday, April 18;. Monday, May 16; and Wednesday, June 29
Other city events that coincide with the Henry Johnson Medal of Honor display are:
• A South End tour on Saturday, May 14, by Orville Abrahams, entitled “African Americans in Albany from the Civil War Through the Twentieth Century.” The tour will begin at 2 p.m. at the African American Cultural Center at of the Capital Region at 135 S. Pearl St.
• Submissions for the Henry Johnson Award for Distinguished Community Service, which are now open
• Promotion of the play, “Camp Logan,” an award-winning WWI drama about the explosion of racial tensions in 1917 Houston, which involved an all-black Army regiment. The play is being performed by the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY at the REP, and will run June 2 to 5 and June 9 to 12.