Amid debate about U.S. history, Harlem Hellfighters receive Congressional Gold Medal : NPR

The president of the Mike Johnson room, R-La., Presents Debra Willett, the granddaughter of the Harlem Hellfighter SGT. Leander Willett, with the Congress gold medal on behalf of all the “Harlem Hellfighters” of the First World War at a ceremony in Capitol Hill on Wednesday in Washington, DC

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Andrew Harnik / Getty images

The Harlem Hellfighters of the 369th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard were posthumously honored this week of a Congress gold medal. They received the highest civilian honor granted by the Congress, decades after their service during the First World War were widely ignored by the best military brass – and in the midst of wider efforts to review the way American history remembers.

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” said representative Tom Suozzi, Dn.y., during the Wednesday ceremony celebrating troops and their families.

“Today, we honor the inheritance of your fathers, your grandfathers and your great-grandfathers who served our nation in extreme circumstances and despite intense discrimination. We are very better for their service,” said Suozzi.

The legislator presented for the first time a bill to honor the soldiers of the 369th Infantry majority-black in 2021, but the price was only officially unveiled this week.

During the ceremony, the president of the Mike Johnson room, R-La., Echoed the feelings of Suozzi:

“We know that generations of African-American soldiers responded to this call to fight for freedom, whether on the battlefields in the country or abroad. Their nation asked them to fight, and they did it again and again, even when they refused the measure of these freedoms here on American soil.”

Debra Willett, a granddaughter of Harlem Hellfighter’s SGT. Leander Willett accepted the price on behalf of the soldiers.

“I know that my grandfather and the other courageous men who fought alongside him have never thought that their courage and their exploits would be celebrated in such a venerated setting,” she said.

“They sacrificed, and they thought they were making a difference. And proves it today.”

The medal will be given to the Smithsonian Institution, “where it will be displayed as appropriate and made available for research”, according to the bill advanced by Suozzi.

The regiment which has become known as Harlem Hellfighters served in the trenches of the First World War for 191 days, increasingly legendary for their combat capacities.

But their journey to the battle lines was examined by racism in the still separate armed forces.

“The 369th lived a number of heartbreaking experiences during their training in the United States, including a riot close to the breed in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where they were initially stationed, and another riot close to the breed when they have been returned to the New Jersey for training at the University of Boston.

“The reason they were shipped to France when they were because the United States army wanted to withdraw them from American soil as quickly as possible to avoid any potential racial disaster,” Williams told NPR.

The white soldiers were reluctant to serve alongside the battalion largely black, so the Harlem Hellfighters fought alongside the French ally, fighting the enemy soldiers and becoming the first unit to reach the Rhine river.

At the time, the soldiers were called the Black Rattlers. But their ferocity on the battlefield finally earned them the name of Hellfighters.

“These are demons,” recalls a Prussian officer captured for his captors. “They smile while they kill and they will not be taken alive.”

Despite their fame on the battlefield, their stories have become widely indexed for decades – and recognition arrives at a time when the Trump administration examines how American history is recalled.

The Smithsonian institution, which will house the congress medal, has been at the center of this effort.

Last month, the White House sent a letter to Lonnie Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, declaring that the Trump administration examination of certain museums is to “guarantee the alignment with the directive of the president to celebrate American exceptionalism, suppress the accounts of division or supporters and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Williams said that hellfighters recognized the complicated nature of how history is often told.

“On the one hand, it is a long -awaited recognition, but it is certainly ironic, given the moments when we are,” said Williams. “It talks about very complicated and often very hypocritical ways in which this country has chosen to tackle its racial history.”

The decision, said Williams, spoke to the “cynical” nature of the Trump administration.

“It was a very inspiring recognition, very patriotic, very well deserved in historical meaning and the sacrifices of the 369,” said Williams. “On the other hand, it was a very cynical display of selective racial memory.”