Overview

• Congress presented the posthumous honor on Sept. 3 in Emancipation Hall, with House Speaker Mike Johnson handing the medal to Debra Willett, granddaughter of Sgt. Leander Willett.
• The newly struck medal will go to the Smithsonian for public display, and the U.S. Mint will produce bronze replicas for purchase.
• Top officials attended, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and New York’s congressional leaders, with related tributes at Arlington National Cemetery and a French embassy reception.
• The 369th served 191 consecutive days in front-line combat under French command in World War I, earned a unit Croix de Guerre and 171 individual Croix de Guerre awards, and was among the first Americans to enter Germany at war’s end.
• Accounts cite roughly 1,400 casualties for the regiment, and speakers noted the soldiers’ valor contrasted with the discrimination and neglect many faced upon returning home.