Modern "Harlem Hellfighters" Lead Parade Commemorating World War I Soldiers

Media Advisory

HARLEM, NEW YORK CITY, NY (05/15/2009)(readMedia)-- New York Army National Guard Soldiers of the 369th Sustainment Brigade will lead the annual 369th Veterans Association Parade on Sunday May 17. The annual parade up Fifth Avenue commemorates the Victory Parade that the all African-American 369th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, held when they returned from the 1st World War in 1919.

WHO: More than 340 Soldiers assigned to the 369th Sustainment Brigade, which traces its lineage back to the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I fame.

WHAT: Parade from the intersections of 61st St. and Fifth Avenue to 86th Street and Fifth Avenue. Members of the media are invited to speak with Soldiers as they muster at 1200 hrs before the start of the parade and after the parade is finished.

WHEN: 1 p.m., Sunday May 17,2009

WHERE: Intersection of 61st St. and Fifth Avenue.

Coverage Opportunities:

Visual opportunities will include images of the Soldiers mustering for the parade and marching in the parade itself. Interviews can be arranged with members of the brigade and brigade leaders, as well as retired members of the 369th who can discuss the significance of this event.

BACKGROUND:

369th Sustainment Brigade:

A Sustainment Brigade is designed to provide command and control for combat service & combat service support units in a combat theater. The New York Army National Guard's 369th Sustainment Brigade traces its lineage back the 15th New York Infantry Regiment in 1916, which was based in Harlem and composed of Black Soldiers.

In 1917 the unit was federalized and deployed to France and designated the 369th Infantry Regiment of the National Army, but the Soldiers were initially employed in unloading ships because the Army was reluctant to let Black Soldiers fight. The French Army, though, had no such qualms, and in April 1918 the regiment was assigned to the French 16th Division. While fighting with the French the unit earned 171 Legion of Honor Awards and Private Henry Johnson became the first American Soldier awarded the French Croix de Guerre for driving away a German patrol in hand-to-hand combat.

The Regiment's band, composed of many professional Black musicians, is credited with introducing Jazz to Europe.

Following World War I the unit remained part of the New York Army National Guard. During World War II the unit was reorganized first as a Coast Artillery and then an Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, fighting in the Pacific. In the 1950s it became an Artillery battalion and then a transportation battalion in the 1970s and the 369th Transportation Battalion Deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990 in support of Operation Desert Storm. In 1994 it became the 369th Support Battalion and the 369th Sustainment Brigade in 2007.

The 369th's 1919 Victory Parade:

Racism of the time denied the Soldiers of the 369th the recognition they deserved and the unit was absent from the Allied Victory Parade in Paris at the end of World War I. But the regiment's white command, Col. William Hayward, insisted that his Soldiers get their parade and so on17 February 1919 New York put on a lavish ticker tape parade to welcome the 369th home.

According to the New York World 250,000 people turned out to watch the 369th parade from 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue to 129th St. The Soldiers marched 20 abreast in French marching formation while the New York Police Band provided music at strategic points. Lieutenant James Reece Europe led the Hellfighters' own band. At Sixtieth Street the New York governor Alfred Smith and other dignitaries manned a reviewing stand. At 110th Street the parade swung into Lenox Avenue, Harlem's main thoroughfare. From 129th Street the crowd could no longer be restrained. The soldiers switched from their massed phalanx to an open formation, which allowed spectators to more easily recognize their fathers, sons, brothers, and friends. Harlemites swarmed the ranks to embrace their loved ones. "Flowers fell in showers from above," reported the New York World.