During World War I, Henry Johnson suffered 21 knife and bullet wounds while he engaged at least 15 German soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, killing four and wounding 10 to 20 more.
William Henry Johnson was born July 15, 1892, in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He moved to New York as a teenager, working various jobs as a chauffeur, coal yard laborer, and finally as a Red Cap Porter at the Albany train station.
He enlisted in the all-black 15th New York National Guard Regiment on June 17, 1917. Black units were tasked with menial labor supporting white troops, unloading ships, digging latrines, etc. The unit was later renamed the
