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From Syria to Black Lives Matter: 3 ways WWI still shapes America
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/09/us/3-ways-wwi-shapes-america/index.html
(CNN) He stood 5-foot-4 and weighed 130 pounds. An angular, baby-smooth face made him look even less intimidating. Henry Johnson was at first just another railroad porter who toted luggage and smiled for tips.
But on May 4, 1918, Johnson grabbed a two-inch bolo knife and a splintered rifle and did something so remarkable that he earned another name: "Black Death."
Johnson was a US sergeant standing sentry one night in a French forest when a German raiding party attacked. The swarming Germans shot Johnson in his lip, head and side. Yet Johnson kept shooting back. When his rifle jammed, he grabbed it by the barrel and clubbed more Germans. Then he used the bolo knife to stab and disembowel another enemy soldier. He kept throwing grenades until he fainted from blood loss.
When his comrades found Johnson the next morning, they discovered he had killed four Germans and wounded about 20 more. They could still see the bloody trails of wounded Germans who had crawled into the woods to escape Johnson's fury. Johnson had been wounded 21 times but somehow survived the hourlong battle.
<snip>
Johnson's story is featured in PBS' "The Great War," a stirring account of America's entry into World War I. The three-part "American Experience" film, which begins airing Monday, devotes six hours over three nights to explaining why the nation decided to enter "the war that would end all wars" 100 years ago this month.
(CNN) He stood 5-foot-4 and weighed 130 pounds. An angular, baby-smooth face made him look even less intimidating. Henry Johnson was at first just another railroad porter who toted luggage and smiled for tips.
But on May 4, 1918, Johnson grabbed a two-inch bolo knife and a splintered rifle and did something so remarkable that he earned another name: "Black Death."
Johnson was a US sergeant standing sentry one night in a French forest when a German raiding party attacked. The swarming Germans shot Johnson in his lip, head and side. Yet Johnson kept shooting back. When his rifle jammed, he grabbed it by the barrel and clubbed more Germans. Then he used the bolo knife to stab and disembowel another enemy soldier. He kept throwing grenades until he fainted from blood loss.
When his comrades found Johnson the next morning, they discovered he had killed four Germans and wounded about 20 more. They could still see the bloody trails of wounded Germans who had crawled into the woods to escape Johnson's fury. Johnson had been wounded 21 times but somehow survived the hourlong battle.
<snip>
Johnson's story is featured in PBS' "The Great War," a stirring account of America's entry into World War I. The three-part "American Experience" film, which begins airing Monday, devotes six hours over three nights to explaining why the nation decided to enter "the war that would end all wars" 100 years ago this month.
I cannot wait to see this tonight!!!
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I hope we don't lose it due to the shitgibbon's funding cuts of PBS.
Both of my grandfathers fought in WWI, but they both died long before I was born, so this is something I don't know nearly enough about, and I should. 
