Historian Seeks Medal of Honor for 2 Blacks

WASHINGTON —  None of the 1.5 million blacks who fought in World Wars I and II were awarded the Medal of Honor, and historian Leroy Ramsey is lobbying to get the award posthumously for two who he says deserve it: Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany, N.Y., and Seaman Dorrie Miller of Waco, Tex. Johnson served in the Army during World War I; Miller was in the Navy in the Second World War.

Ramsey, a black World War II veteran, looked at records of blacks who had won other high military honors and researched Medal of Honor citations “to make sure I was on solid ground.”

“I didn’t want this to be token,” he said. Ramsey found that Johnson killed four German soldiers, rescued a wounded comrade and captured a stockpile of weapons all despite severe combat wounds, earning the French Croix de Guerre.

Miller served at Pearl Harbor, Ramsey said. When the Japanese attacked, Miller, a mess steward, helped move his mortally wounded captain from the ship’s bridge, then returned to man a machine gun. He got the Navy Cross.