ALBANY – Add a military base’s new name to the victories Albany World War I hero Henry Johnson has achieved in life and death.
On Thursday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said the Department of Defense will officially rename Fort Polk, a name taken from a Confederate general often regarded as incompetent, in honor of Sgt. Johnson, an African American who in this century received a Medal of Honor for his courageous action on the Western Front against German troops.
The change is expected to take place in June, Schumer said. The recommendation was among several made by an independent commission last year to change the names of military bases and installations that currently commemorate Confederate officers.
In a statement, Schumer said he’s gratified with the decision that he has strongly supported, and which follows work done by his office and others to bring the Medal of Honor to the soldier, an award given to him posthumously in 2015 by President Barack Obama.
“Sgt. Henry Johnson, Albany resident and Harlem Hellfighter, is a true American hero, who displayed the most profound battlefield bravery in World War I, yet for almost a century the nation for which he was willing to give his life shamefully failed to recognize his heroics, just because he was a Black man,” Schumer’s statement said. “Now, this summer Sgt. Johnson’s name is slated to rightfully take the place of a Confederate general and have the Southern military base renamed in his honor.”
The nation, he said, will officially have a “Fort Johnson” standing proud to inspire generations to come.
Johnson came to the area with his family when he was a teenager, according to a history provided by the city of Albany, where a statue, community service award and a street bear his name. He enlisted in the military in June 1917 but because the U.S. Army refused to…
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