SkAoUt
Hullo neighbour.
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2001
- Posts
- 6,293
I was reading the paper this morning and came across this article.
Washington- After more than 80 years, the United States army is to decorate a black soldier whose heroics earned him a place in the Arlington National Cemetery but whose colour barred him from a medal.
Even now, however, the army has refused to give Sgt. Henry Johnson the Congressional Medal of Honour. The Pentagon has instead awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross.
Johnston was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French army fro his courage when attacked by 24 Germans in a forward observation trench in May 1918.
Using a rifle, grenades, and his machete, Johnson rescued his comrade Needham roberts from three enemy soldiers and drove off or killed all the other Germans. But his unit, the 369th Infantry Regiment, made up exclusively of black soldiers and nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, was such an embarrassment to the U.S Expeditionary force that it was transfered to French Command.
The heroism of the 369th, who were involved in a series of remarkable triumphs and never lost a yard of territory, became legendary amongst the French 161st Division in which they served.
But the prejudice among the American armed forces at the time meant that the regiment and its heroes, such as Johnson, were never decorated by their own country. Although Johnson led a victory parade in New York in 1918, he died a penniless alchoholic in 1929.
You could have pushed me over with a feather for a while after reading that article. I am not ignorant of the terrible discrimination African Americans have felt in the United States. I just couldn't believe that the pentagon (not capitalized because of the disgust I am feeling) would try to correct a wrong in such a half assed manner.
I am not trying to make this into a Canada is better than U.S. thread (if you read my profile and found I live in Canada. FYI - I am American, in that I have dual citizenship [if that makes me capital A American!?! Nah, I'm probably small a american.]). I realise that Canada has its own poor race relations history, the internment of Japanese Canadians during WWII, the treatment of First Nations Peoples throughout our short history (they could fight and die beside white soldiers in WWII but they couldn't get into the base bar for a drink !?!) ...
Any thoughts on this article or race relations in this day and age?
Washington- After more than 80 years, the United States army is to decorate a black soldier whose heroics earned him a place in the Arlington National Cemetery but whose colour barred him from a medal.
Even now, however, the army has refused to give Sgt. Henry Johnson the Congressional Medal of Honour. The Pentagon has instead awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross.
Johnston was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French army fro his courage when attacked by 24 Germans in a forward observation trench in May 1918.
Using a rifle, grenades, and his machete, Johnson rescued his comrade Needham roberts from three enemy soldiers and drove off or killed all the other Germans. But his unit, the 369th Infantry Regiment, made up exclusively of black soldiers and nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, was such an embarrassment to the U.S Expeditionary force that it was transfered to French Command.
The heroism of the 369th, who were involved in a series of remarkable triumphs and never lost a yard of territory, became legendary amongst the French 161st Division in which they served.
But the prejudice among the American armed forces at the time meant that the regiment and its heroes, such as Johnson, were never decorated by their own country. Although Johnson led a victory parade in New York in 1918, he died a penniless alchoholic in 1929.
You could have pushed me over with a feather for a while after reading that article. I am not ignorant of the terrible discrimination African Americans have felt in the United States. I just couldn't believe that the pentagon (not capitalized because of the disgust I am feeling) would try to correct a wrong in such a half assed manner.
I am not trying to make this into a Canada is better than U.S. thread (if you read my profile and found I live in Canada. FYI - I am American, in that I have dual citizenship [if that makes me capital A American!?! Nah, I'm probably small a american.]). I realise that Canada has its own poor race relations history, the internment of Japanese Canadians during WWII, the treatment of First Nations Peoples throughout our short history (they could fight and die beside white soldiers in WWII but they couldn't get into the base bar for a drink !?!) ...
Any thoughts on this article or race relations in this day and age?
