Harlem Hellfighters is not just a nickname anymore.
The Harlem Hellfighters are now officially the Harlem Hellfighters, according to the New York National Guard.
Over 100 years after the 369th Infantry Regiment earned the nickname in World War I, the Army has recognized the right of 369th Sustainment Brigade soldiers to call themselves Hellfighters, according to the release.
"The case of the Harlem Hellfighters is a particularly interesting claim," said Joseph Seymour, a historian at the Army Center for Military History at Fort McNair, Virginia. "It was not what they called themselves. It is what the enemy called them. That is a particular distinction."
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The Army Center of Military History approved the official designation on Sept. 21. The 369th's nickname was recognized as a traditional, historical designation for the unit.
The 369th's efforts to make its long-time nickname official began in 2019 when New York State Military Museum Director Courtney Burns was looking at the Army's list of special unit designations.
He had been working on a 369th history display at the Harlem Armory and went looking for the certificate noting the official designation of the 369th as the Harlem Hellfighters. He was shocked to find that the 369th was not on the list.
"That was such a glaring error," he said.
The military history program is a unit commander's program and Burns contacted Seth Morgulas, the commander of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, to let him know that the nickname was not officially recognized.
According to the release, Morgulas asked his personnel officer to work with Burns to put the right documents together and fix the issue. The entire process took about a year.
The 369th Infantry began as the 15th Infantry Regiment in Harlem and was a New York National Guard unit for African Americans in a segregated Army and National Guard.
When the United States entered World War I 1917, Black Americans traveled to New York City to enlist in the 15th Infantry Regiment.
The regiment's commander, Col. William Hayward, lobbied hard for his soldiers to be part of the American Expeditionary Force, and they shipped out in 1917. In March 1918, they were reorganized as the 369th Infantry and loaned to the French Army.
The 369th fought in combat for 191 days, with 1,500 killed and wounded while receiving only 900 replacements. In one offensive, the 369th outpaced French units on either side by seven miles.
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They were the first unit of the French, British or American Armies to reach the Rhine River at the end of the war. The unit earned 11 French citations and a unit Croix de Guerre, and 170 Soldiers were awarded the Croix de Guerre.
They called themselves the "Black Rattlers," and the unit crest still features a rattlesnake coiled to strike. The French called them "Hommes de Bronze" or men of bronze. But it was their German adversaries who gave them the name that stuck. The Germans called the Black Americans "Hollenkampfer," German for Hellfighters.
The 369th joins 717 other Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve units – some of which no longer exist – that have official special designations.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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