Washington ? A war hero ignored by military brass for decades was honored Thursday at the Pentagon for his extraordinary feat of battlefield bravery.

Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany, N.Y., was awarded posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross for single-handedly fighting off nearly 20 German troops who attacked him and a fellow soldier while they were on sentry duty during World War I.

Johnson’s 86-year-old son, Herman Johnson of Kansas City, Kan., a member of the renowned World War II Tuskegee airmen, smiled as he held his father’s medal Thursday in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.

“It’s great for my father, it’s great for me and my family, and it’s great for Negro history,” he said. “When we pass away, this will be part of the country’s history.”

The recognition for Johnson came after decades of lobbying by his family and veterans of the fabled 369th regiment, dubbed the “Harlem hellfighters” while fighting alongside the French in World War I because of strict segregation in the U.S. Army.

John Howe, a historian of the 369th, called Johnson “a very ordinary guy,” who, like many others, became a hero for his country.

Johnson and another soldier were on sentry duty one night in May 1918 when a band of German troops attacked.

According to the military citation, even after suffering shotgun and grenade wounds, Johnson fought the Germans, finally driving them off with just a bolo knife.

Johnson’s image and story were later used by the Army in a publicity campaign to boost minority recruitment. The French government gave Johnson the Croix de Guerre, one of that nation’s highest honors.

After the war, Johnson returned to Albany. He died in 1929 in his mid-30s, undecorated by his own country. The United States awarded him the Purple Heart in 1996.

Sen. Charles Schumer, Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Albany, and Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, who all had lobbied on behalf of the Johnson family, heaped praise on the forgotten soldier.

“I stand before you with great pride as we make this wrong right,” Schumer said.

McNulty called the ceremony “another step in the process” of getting Johnson the Medal of Honor, saying the military has been too slow to honor the sacrifices of its black veterans.