--- title: Barack Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Black, Jewish WWI Veterans description: “It’s never too late to say thank you.” canonical: https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-02T16:26:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:03.421Z article:section: Politics og:title: WWI Heroes Overlooked Due to Prejudice Finally Honored og:description: President Obama gave the Medal of Honor posthumously to black and Jewish veterans. og:url: https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8f1bedb9eeb67f/698852940b72e3642b6e445d/ap590711756864.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3819 og:image:height: 2148 og:image:alt: Barack Obama, Elsie Shemin-Roth, William Shemin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WWI Heroes Overlooked Due to Prejudice Finally Honored twitter:description: President Obama gave the Medal of Honor posthumously to black and Jewish veterans. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8f1bedb9eeb67f/698852940b72e3642b6e445d/ap590711756864.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # World War I Heroes Overlooked Due to Prejudice Finally Honored > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 2, 2015 4:26 PM UTC  President Barack Obama presents Ina Bass, left, and Elsie Shemin-Roth, center, with the the Medal of Honor on behalf of their father, Army Sgt. William Shemin during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 2, 2015. President Barack Obama presents Ina Bass, left, and Elsie Shemin-Roth, center, with the the Medal of Honor on behalf of their father, Army Sgt. William Shemin during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 2, 2015. Susan Walsh—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 2, 2015 4:26 PM UTC President Obama awarded two long-overlooked World War I veterans the Medal of Honor posthumously on Tuesday. In a ceremony at the White House, Obama honored Army Sergeant William Shemin and Private Henry Johnson for acts of bravery on the front lines in France during the first world war. Both of the servicemen were honored nearly a century after their acts of bravery after being overlooked largely because of their heritage. Shemin was Jewish and Johnson was African-American. Shemin was finally honored Tuesday for exposing himself to enemy fire while serving as a rifleman in France in 1918\. He left the trenches to rescue wounded soldiers and took command of his platoon as rival forces took out senior officers. On Monday, his daughters Ina Bass and Elsie Shemin-Roth accepted the medal on his behalf. Johnson, who was a member of the black infantry unit known as the Harlem Hellfighters, was also honored for acts of gallantry in France, having been subjected to a surprise attack by German soldiers one night in May 1918\. According to the White House, Johnson was able to retaliate against the invading forces and prevent a fellow soldier from being taken hostage. Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson of the New York National Guard accepted the Medal of Honor on behalf of Johnson. President Obama noted the discrimination that kept the two heroes and many others from being honored for decades, vowing to ensure that more previously overlooked soldiers receive the recognition they deserve. Obama said from the East Room Tuesday, “It’s never too late to say thank you.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/"},"headline":"World War I Heroes Overlooked Due to Prejudice Finally Honored","datePublished":"2015-06-02T16:26:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:03.421Z","description":"“It’s never too late to say thank you,\" Obama said.","url":"https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/","keywords":["Military","Barack Obama","White House","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8f1bedb9eeb67f/698852940b72e3642b6e445d/ap590711756864.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8f1bedb9eeb67f/698852940b72e3642b6e445d/ap590711756864.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama, Elsie Shemin-Roth, William Shemin","caption":"Barack Obama, Elsie Shemin-Roth, William Shemin","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3905567/world-war-i-medal-honor/","name":"World War I Heroes Overlooked Due to Prejudice Finally Honored"}}]}] ```