Fort Polk renamed for World War I hero
Fort Polk was renamed for New York National Guard Sgt. Henry Johnson. The Army installation named for Confederate Gen. Leonidas K. Polk, a New Orleans resident who was killed in combat in 1864, will become Fort Johnson. The fort is home to the Joint Readiness Training Center and the 3rd Bridge Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.
FORT POLK, La. (KLFY) -- Fort Polk received a new name today to honor a World War I hero.
Fort Polk was renamed for New York National Guard Sgt. Henry Johnson. The Army installation named for Confederate Gen. Leonidas K. Polk, a New Orleans resident who was killed in combat in 1864, will become Fort Johnson. The fort is home to the Joint Readiness Training Center and the 3rd Bridge Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.
Henry Johnson enlisted in the New York National Guard's segregated 15th New York (Colored) Infantry Regiment on June 5, 1917, two months after the United States entered WWI. Johnson became a national hero after he fought off a German raiding party with a knife and saved fellow soldier Needham Roberts from capture on the night of May 15, 1918.
The 15th New York Infantry was renamed the 369th Infantry Regiment by the Army and eventually became known as the Harlem Hellfighters to honor the regiment's ferocity in combat.
Johnson became the first American recognized by the French military when he was awarded the French Croix De Guerre. Johnson received no US Military recognition until after his death in 1929. He was awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002. In 2015, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, accepted by New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Louis Wilson on his behalf.
Brig. Gen. Isabel Rivera Smith, the New York National Guard's director of joint staff represented the New York National Guard at the ceremony.
"As a Black American whose bravery wasn't acknowledged at the time, Sgt. Johnson personified the Army values and was the epitome of strength,'' said Smith.
Fort Polk is one of nine Confederate-named Army forts being renamed.