Month: June 2015

Henry Johnson, Medal of Honor Recipient, 2015

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Watch it live here at 11:15am:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/president-obama-awards-sergeant-william-shemin-and-army-private-henry-johnson-medal-honor

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These are photos that I took about three years ago on a visit to Washington Park in Albany, NY of the Henry Johnson Monument, commemorating the bravery and valor displayed by Sgt. Johnson during his service in World War I.

Later today at the White House, President Obama will award two posthumous Medal of Honors, one to Sgt. William Shemin (who was Jewish) and one to Sgt. Henry Johnson, both of whom fought in France during WWI.

Henry Johnson was born in 1897 in Virginia and moved to Albany, New York in his teens. He enlisted in the all Black National Guard unit, which was called up in the 19-teens. Because of racial tensions and white soldiers’ refusal to work alongside Black soldiers (even though all were Americans), General Pershing authorized their loan to the French government where Henry Johnson fought valiantly and unendingly. He fought off a 20 person raiding party of Germans. That is such a watered down one-sentence does-not-give-it-justice summary of the real story.

The French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre for his service and selfless bravery. He was the first American soldier to receive the Croix de Guerre with star and Gold Palm in World War I.

He was finally awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 by President Bill Clinton and the Distinguished Cross in 2003 was awarded to his son on his behalf. Sgt. Johnson’s son, Herman Johnson was one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

It was thought that Henry was buried in a pauper’s grave in Albany after his death in 1929, but is buried in Arlington Cemetery, and that, as they say, is also another story.

Finally, President Obama is rectifying a wrong almost one hundred years old.

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Find more information at these links:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/henry-johnson.htm

http://news10.com/2015/06/01/harlem-hellfighters-visit-henry-johnsons-grave-ahead-of-medal-of-honor-ceremony/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/01/it-took-97-years-to-get-these-soldiers-the-medal-of-honor-heres-how-it-happened/

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/two-world-war-i-soldiers-to-posthumously-receive-medal-of-honor.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&referrer=

Intro to History

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If you asked my kids what their feelings on history is, I’m pretty sure they’d answer: “Don’t care,” “Hate it,” “Eh” in that order.

However if you asked child #1 what she thinks of poodle skirts or headbands of the seventies, she’d be on Google faster than The Flash.

If you asked child #2 about the first comic book ever printed, or who holds the record for the most breakouts of Arkham Asylum, he’d tell you. In infinite detail.

My third child could tell you the history of his fire department, and if you asked him the difference between a pumper truck and a medical unit, he’d know.

History is one of those things that we either love it or we don’t know we love it. All three of them are blase about their social studies and history classes, but ask them about something they’re interested in, and they can give you the rundown from ancient times until the present day, up until the point you cry ‘uncle’ or lose yourself in their droning.

My love of history is primarily American and European focused with more interest on the American Revolution and Civil War and the Middle Ages, respectively. I’ve studied the history of language, of writing, of The Celts, Law, Drinks, the Civil Rights Movement, Catholic Church, and quite frankly the list goes on and on. I’ve made historically accurate garments, made and ate historically accurate food, played games, brewed and infused, embroidered, etc.

With the seventy-first anniversary of D-Day approaching at the end of the week, I thought we would take a peek this week at our own views of history: what we think of it, what we think of as history, which histories we’re interested in learning more about, plus some reading recommendations that I’ve personally found enlightening and of course, interesting.

Let’s start with our usual Monday prompt:

Think about your view of history. If you like/love it, great! Which is your favorite historical period? If you don’t like it, think about what you do like and if you might be interested in how it came to be.

Other prompts for this week to think about:

Your State’s (City’s/Town’s/Etc.) History

Family History – who are you named for? Why? What happened to that person? How did your parents meet? What’s your first memory?

When was your house built? Talk about that time period and what your street/community might have looked like.

What’s your favorite hobby? Who started that? How long have you been doing it? How long have others been doing it? (Remember this one for next week’s theme of collections.)