Black Soldiers Get Apology For WWII Convictions

[RamboLiberal]

Source: KDKA TV

The Army formally apologized Saturday for the wrongful conviction of 28 black soldiers accused of rioting and lynching an Italian prisoner of war in Seattle more than six decades ago.

"We had not done right by these soldiers," Ronald James, assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, said Saturday. "The Army is genuinely sorry. I am genuinely sorry."

Relatives of the soldiers joined elected officials, military officers and one of the defense lawyers to hear James give the apology before hundreds of people in a meadow near the old Fort Lawton parade grounds and chapel in Discovery Park.

In addition, the soldiers' convictions were set aside, their dishonorable discharges were changed to honorable discharges and they and their survivors were awarded back pay for their time in the brig.

All but two of the soldiers are dead. One, Samuel Snow of Leesburg, Fla., planned to attend the ceremony but wound up in the hospital instead because of a problem with his pacemaker.


Read more: http://kdka.com/national/black.soldiers.sorry.2.780905.html

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The Book on this case: On American Soil

From Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
An explosive but forgotten WWII incident that took place on native ground is unearthed by former NewsHour Seattle bureau chief Hamann. In August 1944, the Seattle area played host to Italian POWs on parole and to African-American GIs recently returned from overseas or waiting to ship out. The Italians had freedom of movement and received hospitality in Seattle homes; the African-Americans were subject to massive discrimination and restrictions. The resulting tension led to escalating scuffles, which in turn led to a riotous assault by the GIs on the Italians' quarters and to the death of one Italian. Forty-three GIs faced court-martial; three faced hanging. Hamann shows a then-unknown Leon Jaworski, nearly 30 years before Watergate, using his prosecutorial skills to the fullest, leaning on prejudices in order to make a case for murder. The lead defense attorney, Maj. William Beeks, cleared one third of the defendants (against whom Jaworski had marshalled only "hearsay and innuendo"); the rest were court-martialed, some with imprisonment--but no one was hanged. Hamann reconstructs the courtroom scenes admirably and gives shape to the riot itself. He is best in depicting the men involved and the waste of lives that the episode entailed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
When TV journalist Hamann was covering the expansion of a sewage-treatment plant at Seattle's Discovery Park some 18 years ago, a ranger told him of an odd headstone at the park, dated August 14, 1944, with an Italian inscription. The offhanded remark would lead Hamann to investigate the unsolved murder of Italian POW Guglielmo Olivotto at the park, which was then an Army base known as Fort Lawton. More than 10,000 military personnel were at the base at any given time during the war, including soldiers leaving for, or returning from, the Pacific; Italian prisoners-of-war captured by Allied troops in northern Africa; and a large contingent of segregated black soldiers who served primarily as porters to load and unload ships in the Pacific theater. The story line that Hamann uncovers is compelling enough. But it is the crime's historical context--wartime racial dynamics, colossal army incompetence, international political implications, and the (humane) treatment of POWs, for example--that makes the book so relevant now. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Heard that on NPR the other day. About fucking time, governement fuckers.

[KT2000]

2. Good on Jack Hamman

he was a terrific environmental reporter in Seattle too.
Just goes to show that one person really can get something done.
Thank you Jack Hamman.

[EFerrari]

3. There are good people in the world doing right things. Finally. n/t

[pansypoo53219]

4. they didn't wait til they were all dead?

how nice of the govt.

[defendandprotect]

5. After years of damage to them . . . so little?

Not having an "honorable discharge" would have kept you out of regular employment during

those times --- a double whammy for these soldiers.


How about giving their children or grandchildren college educations --- ???

[Boudica the Lyoness]

6. My dad told me

that in England during WW2 he remembers the American's treating their black military members really badly. One of the thing's he remembered seeing was the black GI's driving the trucks loaded with bombs.
I don't believe the black GI's were allowed off base by the Americans but I remember hearing that the POW's used to do farm work for the locals and I think I heard that they lived with the locals.

[The Croquist]

7. Ever here of the Port Chicago Disaster?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster

During WWII, with few exceptions, Blacks were not considered "good enough" to fight and die for their country. They were largely used as laborers. Port Chicago, California was where the navy loaded cargo ships carrying explosive munitions for the Pacific using black sailors. On July 14, 1944 the place blew up killing 320 people. They never figured out what happened. The navy ended up courts-marshaling many of the survivors for refusing to load anymore ammunition until safety was improved.

I've heard that the blacks were treated comparatively well in England by the locals.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

8. Thanks for the link

it confirms what my father saw going on in WW2. I think it's a safe bet that many of the locals noticed the racism going on at the air bases.
During the 50's and 60's we started to see many immigrants from the West Indies and other countries. There was no segregation in England. I can remember so clearly the first person of color I saw and I was fascinated and wanted to know all about where they came from and their customs. My bestest friend ever was from St. Vincent.
Here we are in early 1970.


I have a question though. My first father-in-law was black (American), and a WW2 vet. Years ago his son and I were going through his photo albums and found pictures of him in Paris during the liberation. He was getting hugged and kissed by French women. Does anybody know anything about black troops being there during the Liberation? I just wonder if he was in a special unit or something.

[The Croquist]

9. There were some black combat units in Europe but that was the exception

It is more likely that he was a member of a support unit. Most US truck drivers in Europe were black and although technically they weren't considered "combat" troops they got shot at a lot and did their fair share of dieing.

I used to work for a black women in Atlanta Georgia USA. She was on vacation in Northern USSR one winter and some of the locals walked up to her and rubbed her face to see if the color would wear off. Apparently the town wasn't very diverse. She took it well.


PS: You were a babe!

[Boudica the Lyoness]

12. Thanks for the info

and compliment.
That's funny about the people of the USSR wanting to see if her color would wear off. I'm glad she took it well. I know I used to drive my friend crazy with all my questions about where she came from and everything. I think I had a problem understanding why someone would leave somewhere so sunny and beautiful for rainy old England.
My former father-in-law was buried at Arlington.

[cosmicdot]

10. see the Brownsville Affair (1906)

"The Nixon Administration overturned all of the accused soldier's dishonorable discharges, but refused to grant their families the back pay in pensions. Still maintaining the Regiment's innocence, Dorsie Willis, the last surviving veteran, received a meager $25,000 pension."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville_Affair

[The Croquist]

11. I hadn't heard of the Brownsville Affair

The only good thing about this is that the US has made allot of progress in the last 100 years. We are far from perfect but we are getting better. I truly believe that one of the most important indicators is just seeing whites and blacks interacting. It sounds small but I think otherwise. I don't know when we will be colorblind but I know that I won't live to see it.

We didn't pay significant reparations to the Japanese Americans interned during WWII either.

[RamboLiberal]

13. Samuel Snow – wrongly convicted Fort Lawton veteran - dies

Samuel Snow, who was wrongly convicted of lynching an Italian prisoner during World War II, died Sunday at 12:43 a.m., Rep. Jim McDermott said.

Snow, 83, died at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle. He entered the hospital Friday for an irregular heartbeat, McDermott said on behalf of Snow's family.

On Saturday, the U.S. Army awarded Snow an honorable discharge and apology. He and other black soldiers were falsely court-martialed for rioting and lynching an Italian prisoner of war at Seattle's Fort Lawton in 1944.

"I am just stunned that he died the day that the Army and America was apologizing to him for the injustice he suffered," McDermott said.

Ray Snow, Samuel's son, said: "My dad has been standing in formation all these years waiting to have his name cleared. With the Army's honorable discharge he was at ease. He now has his discharge papers and he went home."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/372373_snow28.html

Well done soldier. Glad your good name was finally cleared.

[Blue_Tires]

14. ttt n/t