I mention my service as an introduction to my remarks concerning the all black Regiment, the U,S, 369th. When I first noticed this article in the American Legion Magazine, issue of February 2005, I wondered at the time why did I not hear about these brave men before this. Why was it not included in our history. Have we still not got around to giving men like these credit.for their great service to Country and the world.
Recently I came across the article again and since I maintain a personal Web Site devoted to , not only the Marines of which I am very proud, but to all great stories regardless of the branch of service or the color of their skin. I am still wondering how I could grow to the ripe old age of 80 never having heard of Harlem’s Hell Fighters. This omission from history is unforgivable and borders on the racism of old.
Several members of my family are experienced teachers in the public school system here in California and not one of them has ever read anything about such people as the soldiers of the 369th. I ask WHY. I am told by them that not only is there little or nothing about
Units such as the 369th. but there is very little about any branch of the U.S. Military from any period in our history. My Granddaughter, who teaches in a Charter School has to refer her students to private records, such as my Web Site, her own library of history because the schools do not carry such material in their library, or she brings in old war veterans to talk to the students when possible. I was privileged to speak to her students and was amazed at how much interest they had and their comments as to why they are not given the opportunity to read about our American history.
After reading about the Harlem’s Hell Fighters again, I decided to include part of their exploits on my Web Site.
Most information was taken from the American Legion article, checked against the book by Mr. Stephen L. Harris, before being used and then entered on my Web Site so more people would have the opportunity to be informed just a wee bit more. If you read this please refer your family and friends to the book by Mr. Stephen L. Harris or maybe they can find a library that still stocks books on American History.I think there are still a few who are willing to carry books of this nature.
Basil Duncan,
Dunc’s Page
Then in 1916,when New York's National Guard division was sent to the MexIcan border to battle Pancho Villa, governor's aide William Hayward unearthed the law. Because the state was literally unprotected, the Manhattan attorney realized the time was ripe to organize a new regiment, one he would command as a Colonel. The 15th New York, first known as the "Rattlers," sprang to life.
As it turned out, not every able-bodied Harlem male wanted to enlist. Blacks were being lynched in staggering numbers throughout the South and Midwest, and President Wilson had yet to speak out against this scourge. Also, a smelly cigar store served as headquarters. Early recruits trained with broomsticks. Whites derided them as Hayward's "tin soldiers."
Finding ways to lure men into the regiment posed a problem - until a legend of American jazz showed up. When Jim Reese Europe enlisted in September 1916, wanting to be a real soldier and not a musician, Hayward sensed he had a golden opportunity to swell the ranks of his regiment - a military band like no other, with a jazz beat. Europe reluctantly agreed to organize the band, but only if the colonel came up with $10,000 to pay for his handpicked musicians.
By then, it was summer 1917. War had been declared and the United States was furiously building up its military strength. Guard units bulged with men. Among the first of the citizen-soldier regiments to head for France was the 15th. Before it sailed, however, it had to deal with racists at Camp Wadsworeth and Camp Mills.
After two weeks at Wadsworth, the 15th was sent back to New York, where it was scattered about, some companies at Camp Mills, others at Van Courtland Park. The moment a troop ship became available the regiment was off to France. At Mills, meanwhile, Alabama's 167th Infantry had a hard time adjusting. It fought with the 165th Infantry,a regiment it had faced in the Civil War. Worse, New York crawled with blacks. Gangs of Alabamians, when on leave, beat up any black they came across. In one incident, they gouged out the eye of a railroad porter. When the 15th arrived in camp, it was too much. Rumors flew that an armed attack had been planned against Harlem's regiment.
For Fish, it was time to retaliate. He passed out ammunition, placed his company in a skirmish line and told them to fire if threatened. "It would mean casualties," he wrote. But what else could we do? Run?" With the oncealed .45, Fish went in search of the 167th. When he came across several of its officers, he warned them that his men were armed and ready. He told them a lot of troops would get hurt. One of the officers said, "Don't y'all worry. We're trying to round up the ringleaders now. Y'all appreciate that our boys aren't seeing colored soldiers, especially as they're living next door. But we'll handle it." The crisis was averted.
On Nov. 11, the 15th sailed for France. On the way over, Noble SissIe brooded, "We were the Baby National Guard Regiment of New York, had no armory, no previous military experience - just a bunch of much-made-over boys under the leadership of a politician colonel. Before any of us were aware of it, we found ourselves in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, going to fight. Only half-equipped and no training in modern warfare - not even a part of any division. Just a single little regiment. Even the colonel did not know what we were going to do after we got to France."
If Hayward and his men thought they were off to the Western front, they were sorely disappointed. Instead of rifles, the regiment received picks and shovels and was assigned to perform common labor at the port of St. Nazaire. The colonel kept bombarding Gen. Pershing for inclusion in the American Expeditionary Forces, but Pershing ignored him. Hayward called his troops orphans, claiming, "My regiment was left by Gen. Pershing on the doorstep of France."
A bright spot occurred in February 1918, when the YMCA had Europe's regimental band temporarily transferred to a rest area for doughboys at Aix-les Bains, a famous resort in the Alps. To get there from the coast, the band traveled by train. It stopped at villages along the way and performed concerts in squares and parks, introducing jazz throughout most of France. When the musicians arrived, canteen worker Marian Baldwin wrote in her diary, "They are perfectly screaming, but a marvelous band, and when they came marching down the streets to meet the troops yesterday, the French people went perfectly wild over them."
As Europe, SissIe and the band wowed doughboys and French civilians alike in the Alps, Hayward got his orders at last to post the regiment to the front lines, but not with the AEF. The 15th, now redesignated the 369th Infantry,
was attached to the 16th Division of the French Fourth Army.
By mid-April, the Hell Fighters were in the Champagne sector
northeast of Chalons, protecting swath of the west bank of the
Aisne River. It marked the first time black Americans entered the front line in the Great War.
On the night of May 13, Henry Johnson, the Albany redcap, hunkered down in a listening post in no-man's-land. He shared the mudhole with Pvt. Needham Roberts of Trenton, N.J. Out of the darkness, pitching grenades and firing rifles, a German platoon attacked the two soldiers. Both Americans fell. Johnson suffered three gunshot wounds, but he got to his feet and singlehandedly met he rush. Using a bolo knife, he repelled the assault, certainly killing a half-dozen men. His fury forced the Germans to retreat. For his heroic stand, Johnson received the Croix de Guerre. Newspapers throughout the United States carried his story. Because one of America's first war heroes was a soldier of color, the black community renewed its efforts to convince the president to repudiate lynching. Finally Wilson publicly stated that anyone taking part in a mob action is "no true son of democracy, but its betrayer."
For his individual heroism, white Lt. George Robb earned the Medal of Honor. The taking of Sechault ended the 369th's major combat operations. The regiment was then attached to the French II Corps and, following the armistice, led the Allies to the Rhine River.
On Feb. 17, 1919, the 369th returned home to a tumultuous parade up Fifth Avenue and through the streets of Harlem. On the crowded sidewalks, taunts gave way to cheers as New Yorkers embraced their newest heroes. In the years and decades that followed, the Hell Fighters fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. The Empire State had its black National Guard Regiment, and these men of color were orphans no more.
Stephen 1. Harris is the author of "Harlem's Hell Fighters: The African-American 369th Infantry in World War"(Potomac Books), from which this article is adapted, and "Duty, Honor, Privilege: New York's Silk Stocking Regiment and the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line." He is now at work on a book about New York's Fighting 69th Regiment.
Article design: Doug Rollison
February 2005
The American Legion Magazine
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