369th Infantry Regiment

Location & Contact:

intersection of 5th Avenue and West 142nd Street on 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10037
212-639-9675
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Description:

This monument honors the legendary 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. The black granite obelisk is a replica of a 1997 memorial that stands at Sechault in Northern France, where the 369th soldiers distinguished themselves during World War I. Unveiled on September 29, 2006, the 88th anniversary of that battle, the obelisk is 12 feet high and features gilded inscriptions, the 369ths crest and its coiled rattlesnake insignia.

During World War I, United States Armed Forces remained segregated by race. In 1913, New York established the 15th New York (Colored) Infantry Regiment, a unit of the National Guard. The U.S. Army mustered the unit into Federal service in 1917, and the 369th (Colored) Infantry Regiment went to France that December, among the first 100,000 troops of the American Expeditionary Forces.

Exhibiting extraordinary valor, the 369th, an integral part of the Fourth French Army, fought on the front until the Armistice. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive the 369th showed exceptional bravery, especially on September 29, 1918, during the liberation of Sechault, when a third of the regiment suffered casualties.

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