IIB 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3642 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 16, 2021 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs 
AN ACT 
To award a Congressional gold medal to the 369th Infantry 
Regiment, 
commonly 
known 
as 
the 
‘‘Harlem 
Hellfighters’’, in recognition of their bravery and out-
standing service during World War I. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harlem Hellfighters 
Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) When the United States officially entered 
World War I in April 1917, the Armed Forces were 
still segregated, even though African-American sol-
diers had served and distinguished themselves in 
every war since the Revolutionary War, and even the 
Colonial Wars preceding the American Revolution. 
(2) After several years of advocacy and debate, 
in 1916 the State of New York authorized the re-
cruitment of the 15th New York National Guard 
Regiment, which was called to Federal service on 
July 25, 1917, soon after arriving for training at 
Camp Whitman, New York. 
(3) The 15th completed its basic military prac-
tice training at Camp Whitman, New York. 
(4) To receive combat training, the 15th re-
ported, on October 8, 1917, to Camp Wadsworth, in 
Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it experienced 
many incidents of racial discrimination. 
(5) Consequently, the government agreed to re-
move the 15th from Camp Wadsworth, but, instead 
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of receiving further training, the regiment began 
preparing for deployment to France in November. 
(6) The 15th arrived in Saint Nazaire, France, 
on January 1, 1918, where it was redesignated the 
369th Infantry Regiment. 
(7) Partly because many White soldiers within 
the American Expeditionary Forces (hereinafter, the 
‘‘AEF’’) refused to perform combat duty with Black 
soldiers, members of the 369th were initially as-
signed manual labor tasks, such as loading and un-
loading supplies, and constructing roads and rail-
roads. 
(8) After receiving pressure from the 369th reg-
imental commander about not having a combat mis-
sion, the AEF attached the 369th to the French 
Fourth Army. 
(9) By mid-March of 1918, the 369th went to 
the Argonne Forest with the French 16th Division 
for training and soon entered the trenches. 
(10) The 369th encountered its first German 
soldiers in combat in April, 1918. 
(11) In May of 1918, Private Henry Johnson 
of the 369th received the French Croix de Guerre, 
with Palm, for extraordinary valor, becoming one of 
the first American soldiers to be awarded this honor. 
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