## The Specific Language of the Medal of Honor Citation
The Medal of Honor citation for Henry Johnson uses the formal language that all such citations use, but the specific content of the citation is worth examining because it establishes the official account of what happened at Outpost 20.
The citation recognizes Johnson’s actions on the night of May 15, 1918, in the Argonne Forest, France, while serving as a private in Company C, 369th Infantry. It credits him with “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
The citation describes the attack by “at least 12 enemy soldiers” — the specific number that distinguishes the official citation from the larger figures in some accounts. It credits Johnson with preventing Needham Roberts from being captured, with engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat after his rifle jammed and was used as a club, and with fighting with a bolo knife. It notes his multiple wounds.
The language “above and beyond the call of duty” is the standard Medal of Honor threshold — the distinction between what a soldier is required to do and what a soldier chooses to do in excess of requirement. Johnson’s duty on May 15 was to maintain his watch at Outpost 20, to alert the French position in case of enemy approach, and to defend the outpost. He had done all of that and more: he had fought off the raiding party alone after Roberts was wounded, had prevented Roberts’s capture, and had stayed in the fight despite multiple wounds.