369th Infantry Regiment (United States) - Notable Soldiers

Notable Soldiers

• Benjamin O. Davis Sr., Regimental Commander of the 369th Regiment and first African-American general in the US Armed Forces.
• James Reese Europe, an early ragtime and jazz bandleader and composer, who served as regimental bandmaster as part of the Harlem Hellfighters who led the first Americans into France, then into Germany after the Armistice. Also established the first African-American musicians union the Clef Club.
• Hamilton Fish III, Company Commander in the 369th Regiment, New York Congressman, and Founder of the Order of Lafayette.
• Henry Lincoln Johnson, winner of the Croix de Guerre-posthumously awarded the DSC and Purple Heart.
• Rafael Hernández Marín, considered to the greatest composer of Puerto Rican music.
• Spotswood Poles, referred to as "the black Ty Cobb" for his prowess in the professional Negro baseball leagues in the early 20th century.
• Needham Roberts, winner of the Croix de Guerre and Purple Heart.
• Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, tap dancer and actor
• Noble Sissle, American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright, who assisted James Reese Europe in forming the regimental band.
• Vertner Woodson Tandy, who was the first African-American to pass the military commissioning examination and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the 15th Infantry Regiment of the New York Guard. Tandy was also one of the founders, or "Seven Jewels," of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
• John Woodruff, Battalion Commander, Olympic Gold Medalist in Berlin (1936)