A JOURNEY WORTH JOURNALING: Two Brothers, Two Pilgrimages, Two Gold Medals — A Texas Story of Black Military Legacy.

A JOURNEY WORTH JOURNALING: Two Brothers, Two Pilgrimages, Two Gold Medals — A Texas Story of Black Military Legacy.

By Black Texans, Inc.

A JOURNEY TO WORLD HISTORY: https://youtu.be/Tc3TYuMAjZY?si=soRe-ASVPbWoee1-

Washington, D.C., is a city of monuments. Marble and granite rise in honor of men who shaped America. Yet for far too long, the truest shapers—the men and women of African descent who bled, sacrificed, and persevered—were left unrecognized, their contributions invisible in the nation’s memory.

In 2025, that began to change. Twice in a single year, two Black military units—once dismissed, segregated, and dishonored—were raised to their rightful place in the annals of American history. Twice in a single year, Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol became a sanctuary of truth.

And twice in that single year, Derrick Johnson of Fort Worth, Texas, found himself in that hall, bearing witness.

In April, he traveled with Pastor Kyev Tatum and a North Texas delegation for the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the “Six Triple Eight.” In September, he returned—this time with his wife and family—for the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the famed Harlem Hellfighters.

Two trips. Two Gold Medals. Two pilgrimages of faith, family, and history. Johnson calls it “journaling hope,” not just for himself, but for his children, grandchildren, and the next generation of Texans who deserve to know the truth: Black soldiers are, and always have been, Soldiers Worth Saluting.

THE 6888TH CENTRAL POSTAL DIRECTORY BATTALION

“No Mail, Low Morale”

They sailed into the storm. In February 1945, as Nazi submarines prowled the Atlantic, 855 Black women soldiers—the first and only all-Black, all-female battalion to serve overseas in World War II—set out for Europe. Officially, they were the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Unofficially, they were pioneers, patriots, and history makers.

The U.S. Army sent them into chaos. Millions of letters and packages were backed up in unheated warehouses, stacked to the ceilings, gnawed by rats, frozen by cold, and left unopened for two years. Morale across the front was plummeting. Soldiers fighting in trenches had no word from home. Families had no word from loved ones. The Army’s motto was clear: “No mail, low morale.”

The Six Triple Eight got to work. Operating in shifts around the clock, they organized the mountains of mail with precision, cutting through the backlog in a mere three months instead of six. In total, they sorted and delivered 17 million pieces of mail, ensuring that soldiers on the front lines received the one thing no weapon could provide: hope.

But their mission was about more than letters. It was about dignity. These women faced racism from white American soldiers, sexism from male officers, and the constant reminder that their own country saw them as second-class. Yet they carried themselves with grace, marching in crisp formation through the streets of Birmingham, Rouen, and Paris. For the first time, many Europeans saw Black women in uniform—strong, competent, proud.

Among them were Texans. Black women from Dallas, Houston, and East Texas who had grown up under Jim Crow now wore the uniform of their nation, serving abroad even as their hometowns denied them basic rights. Their recognition in 2025 was not just about military efficiency. It was about memory. It was about saying, at last: we see you, we honor you, we salute you.

THE 369TH INFANTRY REGIMENT — THE HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS

“Yet They Still Loved America”

If the Six Triple Eight carried America’s heart, the 369th Infantry Regiment carried its fist. They were called the Harlem Hellfighters, though many were not from Harlem at all. Some were from Louisiana, some from Georgia, some from Texas—including proud sons of East Texas towns like Tyler and Luling.

When the United States entered World War I, Black men rushed to enlist. They were eager to prove loyalty to a nation that denied them full citizenship. Yet the Army hesitated, relegating them to labor units. The 369th was different. Denied the chance to fight under the U.S. flag, they were “loaned” to the French Army, who welcomed them, trained them, and equipped them with French rifles.

In combat, the Hellfighters became legend. They spent 191 days on the front lines without surrendering an inch of ground—longer than any other American unit. They endured relentless shelling, gas attacks, and hand-to-hand combat. Two of their men, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, fought off a German raiding party with nothing but rifles and knives. Johnson was later awarded the Medal of Honor—posthumously, decades after his death.

When the war ended, the Hellfighters marched back into Harlem to the sound of jazz bands and roaring crowds. But when they returned home to Texas, Georgia, or Louisiana, they found segregation still waiting. Their heroism could not shield them from Jim Crow.

Still, their motto endures: They loved America even when America did not love them back.

THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS

“Guardians of the Frontier”

Long before the Hellfighters or the Six Triple Eight, there were the Buffalo Soldiers. Formed in 1866 after the Civil War, these Black cavalry and infantry regiments became the backbone of America’s western expansion. Stationed in remote outposts from Texas to Kansas to New Mexico, they built forts, strung telegraph lines, protected settlers, and fought in the Indian Wars.

Their name—“Buffalo Soldiers”—was given by Native Americans, who saw in their hair and fighting spirit a resemblance to the buffalo. It was meant as respect, and the soldiers wore it with pride.

Texas was central to their story. At Fort Davis, Fort Concho, and Fort Clark, Buffalo Soldiers stood watch in a land that often despised their presence. They were denied entry into the very towns they protected. Yet they served with discipline and honor. Some went on to fight in the Spanish-American War, storming San Juan Hill in Cuba alongside Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders—though history books erased them for decades.

The Buffalo Soldiers symbolize a paradox: fighting for a freedom they could not fully enjoy. But they also symbolize perseverance. They planted seeds of hope in the soil of Texas—seeds that sprouted into the generations that followed.

THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN

“Red Tails, Blue Skies”

In the skies above Europe during World War II, American bombers flew with a special escort: sleek P-51 Mustang fighters with bright red tails. The world knew them as the Tuskegee Airmen—the first Black pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, these men overcame systemic doubt. Military officials claimed Black men lacked the intelligence, discipline, or courage to fly. The Tuskegee Airmen shattered every lie. Flying over 15,000 sorties, they destroyed hundreds of enemy aircraft and earned the respect of bomber crews who prayed for “Red Tail Angels” on their missions.

Among them were Texans—men from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and small towns across the state. Some became instructors, some mechanics, others pilots. All of them carved open the skies of possibility for future generations. Without the Tuskegee Airmen, there would be no Colin Powell, no Lloyd Austin, no Black generals at the highest ranks.

Their legacy is simple: Excellence is the best answer to prejudice.

THE BLACK ROSIES

“We Can Do It, Too”

While men fought abroad, women fought at home. Everyone knows the poster of Rosie the Riveter—red bandana, flexed arm, slogan “We Can Do It!” But few know that there were also Black Rosies, women who built ships, planes, and tanks in factories across America.

In Houston, Black women worked in shipyards. In Dallas, they built parts for aircraft. In East Texas towns, they stitched uniforms and packed ammunition. They endured double discrimination: white women resented their presence, white men doubted their skills. Yet they proved indispensable to the war effort.

When the war ended, many were pushed back into domestic work, their contributions erased. But their spirit endured. The Black Rosies remind us that patriotism is not only on the battlefield—it is in the factory, the kitchen, the classroom, the church.

EAST TEXAS HEROES

“From the Civil War to Korea”

The soil of East Texas is heavy with history. From Tyler to Luling, from Palestine to Marshall, Black men and women have served in every American conflict.

• Civil War — Enslaved men from Texas who escaped joined the Union Army, fighting for freedom not just for themselves but for millions still in bondage.

• World War I — Men like Joseph Ulyses Lamkin of Luling, who fought with the 369th Harlem Hellfighters, returned home to build lives of quiet dignity.

• World War II — East Texans joined the ranks of the 6888th, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Black Rosies, carrying the Lone Star spirit across the world.

• Korea — Black Texans fought in desegregated units for the first time, proving once again that courage is not measured in color.

Their names may not all be written in textbooks, but they live in church pews, family photo albums, and cemetery headstones. Their legacy is the heartbeat of Texas itself.

SOLDIERS WORTH SALUTING

When Derrick Johnson stood in Emancipation Hall, he was not standing alone. He carried with him the spirits of the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, the Hellfighters in France, the Tuskegee pilots in the sky, the Six Triple Eight in cold warehouses, the Black Rosies at welding tables, and the East Texas boys who gave their youth in Korea.

He carried them all. So did Pastor Kyev Tatum.

Two brothers. Two trips. Two Gold Medals. A lifetime of remembrance.

This is the journal they now pass to us—a journal of hope, sacrifice, and love for a nation that too often forgot to love them back.

But we remember. We honor. We salute.

Because these men and women—our men and women—are, and always will be:

Soldiers Worth Saluting.