A most conspicuous Negro hero of the war, and for that matter of any race serving with the American army, was Sergeant Henry Johnson of Albany, N.Y.  His exploit was shared by a company mate, Needham Roberts.  For pure bull dog grit and tigerish fighting, the exploit has seldom, if ever, been equalled in the annals of any war.  It resulted in the War Crosses for each with a special citation, and the whole French force in that section of the Champagne lined up to see them get the decorations.  Across the red and green ribbon of Johnson’s decoration was a golden palm, signifying extraordinary valor.  Johnson was the first private of any race in the American army to get the palm with his Croix de Guerre.  Here is the story as told in Johnson’s own words after his arrival back in New York: 

     “There isn’t so much to tell”, said Johnson with characteristic
     modesty.  “There wasn’t anything so fine about it.  Just fought for
     my life.  A rabbit would have done that.

“Well, anyway, me and Needham Roberts were on patrol duty on May 15.  The corporal wanted to send out two new drafted men on the sentry post for the midnight-to-four job.  I told him he was crazy to send untrained men out there and risk the rest of us.  I said I’d tackle the job, though I needed sleep.

“German snipers had been shooting our way that night and I told the corporal he wanted men on the job who knew their rifles.  He said it was imagination, but anyway he took those green men off and left Needham and me on the posts.  I went on at midnight.  It was moonlight.  Roberts was at the next post.  At one o’clock a sniper took a crack at me from a bush fifty yards away.  Pretty soon there was more firing and when Sergeant Roy Thompson came along I told him.

     “‘What’s the matter men’ he asked, ‘You scared?’

“‘No I ain’t scared’, I said, ’I came over here to do my bit and I’ll do it.  But I was jes’ lettin’ you know there’s liable to be some tall scrappin’ around this post tonight’.  He laughed and went on, and I began to get ready.  They’d a box of hand grenades there and I took them out of the box and laid them all in a row where they would be handy.  There was about thirty grenades, I guess.  I was goin’ to bust that Dutch army in pieces if it bothered me.

“Somewhere around two o’clock I heard the Germans cutting our wire out in front and I called to Roberts.  When he came I told him to pass the word to the lieutenant.  He had just started off when the snippin’ and clippin’ of the wires sounded near, so I let go with a hand grenade.  There was a yell from a lot of surprised Dutchmen and then they started firing.  I hollered to Needham to come back.

     “A German grenade got Needham in the arm and through the hip.  He
     was too badly wounded to do any fighting, so I told him to lie in
     the trench and hand me up the grenades.