Medal Of Honor Awarded Posthumously To Black WWI Hero, But Family Found Out Something Shocking

The Medal of Honor was finally awarded posthumously to a black World War I hero, but the family was not expecting to uncover this piece of information.

The family of Henry Johnson had been asking the U.S. government to do the right thing and award him the Medal of Honor, but they weren’t prepared to discover he was not exactly who they thought he was. Inspired by his heroism and selflessness for decades, his granddaughter, Tara Johnson, was shocked to discover he was not her grandfather after all.

Two days prior to the ceremony at the White House — during which President Obama awarded Henry Johnson the Medal of Honor — the family discovered that they weren’t actually related to the World War I hero. A birth certificate belonging to Tara Johnson’s father found by Pentagon researchers had another man’s name.

Johnson’s world came crashing down when an Army general visited her last month and revealed the news that Henry Johnson was not her grandfather, and her father — World War II Tuskegee airman Herman Johnson — was not the hero’s son, according to Yahoo!. She was shocked.

“Dad’s birth certificate didn’t have Henry on it. All we have ever known is Henry Lincoln Johnson. My family is going through an identity crisis; this shocked our foundation.”

The name of the man listed on the document found by Pentagon researchers vetting Johnson’s ancestry was completely unknown to his assumed relatives. Johnson had never heard him mentioned as the father. According to Tara, her father always spoke very warmly of Henry Johnson and recalled the happy times before the family broke apart.

Henry Johnson became worthy of the Medal of Honor when he rescued a fellow soldier despite having suffered serious injuries from a grenade and gunshot wounds in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with German raiders in 1918. Because of his race, he was denied the Medal of Honor in the United States. However, France recognized his heroism, and he received the Croix de Guerre.

Because of the injuries he received in World War I, he was unable to work when he returned home and took to drinking. Henry Johnson died destitute at the age of 32.

Despite the stunning findings, Tara Johnson was invited to attended the Medal of Honor ceremony for Henry Johnson at the White House. After all, he was finally rewarded for his actions thanks in part to her role in pushing for his well-deserved Medal of Honor.

[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images, U.S. Army]